iBJIlHHHJti' 

flit 

:f|§S|  1 

BUS 

:WxM 
\ 

!  I 


vm 


I 


:li!i 


I ::  i  ■Hfl 


11 


ill 


i 


I 


iiilii 


LIBRARY   - 

OF  THE 

University  of  California. 


Class 


1^ 


Q\ 


The   Roger  Williams  Monument 
Unveiled  at  Providence,  R.  I.,  1877 


ROGER  WILLIAMS 


A    STUDY    OF    THE    LIFE,    TIMES    AND 
CHARACTER  OF  A  POLITICAL  PIONEER 


BY 


EDMUND  J.  CARPENTER,  Litt.D. 

AUTHOR  OF  "AMERICA  IN  HAWAII,"  ETC. 


THE    GRAFTON   PRESS 

PUBLISHERS  NEW  YORK 


#> 


Copyright,  1909, 
By  THE  GRAFTON  PRESS 


*  •  •   •  •    • 


•    •  •  _•  »••  „•«•••  •     •    • 

...  •  ..•  •  ••#  *.   •  ••  .     .  ... 


To 

The  President  and  Fellows 
of  Brown  University 


225731 


PREFACE 

With  the  broadening  of  human  thought  and  sympathies, 
and  the  consequent  weakening  of  division  walls,  separating 
the  various  sects  of  Protestant  Christianity,  which  have 
distinguished  the  past  few  years,  there  has  come  an  in- 
creased sense  of  human  brotherhood.  Never  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  human  race  has  the  public  conscience  been  so 
sensitive  as  in  these  opening  years  of  the  twentieth  cen- 
tury. At  no  period  has  there  been  so  little  contention 
concerning  doctrine;  never  has  there  been  so  broad  an 
insistence  upon  the  fundamentals  of  belief  and  the  demands 
of  ethics.  For  more  than  a  century  past  the  discussion 
which  has  waged,  often  bitterly,  concerning  the  true  con- 
ception of  the  character  of  Roger  Williams  has  had  its 
basis  too  firmly  fixed  chiefly  upon  a  doctrinal  foundation. 
The  day  has  dawned  when  it  is  possible  to  lay  aside  such 
considerations  and  to  study  the  character  of  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  men  of  his  day ,  as  of  a  man  among  men  ; 
to  consider  from  a  political  and  personal,  rather  than  from  a 
strictly  religious,  point  of  view,  the  times  in  which  he  lived 
and  the  circumstances  by  which  he  and  others  were  con- 
trolled ;  to  study  the  peculiarities  of  his  disposition  and  of 
those  around  him,  and  to  form  our  final  opinion,  crystal- 
ized  by  these  considerations,  rather  than  by  popular  no- 
tions, which   may   have   been  held,  either   by  his  extreme 


admirers,  or  by  those  whose  opinion  of  his  character  has 
been  less  favorable. 

In  pursuing  this  study  and  analysis  of  the  character  of 
this  man,  the  author  has  thought  proper  to  consult  orig- 
inal authorities  alone,  deeming  the  facts  of  history  and  the 
statements  of  the  man  himself,  or  of  his  contemporaries, 
and  the  inferences  to  be  drawn  from  them,  to  be  of  more 
real  value  than  the  opinions  of  writers,  whose  sources  of 
information  have  been  limited  to  the  same  records  and 
documents.  He  has  endeavored  to  produce  only  a  picture 
of  the  man  himself,  from  which  the  reader  will  be  quite 
capable  of  forming  opinions,  unaided  by  suggestions  from 
the  collector  and  compiler  of  the  facts. 

The  propriety  of  entering  upon  a  study  and  record,  such 
as  is  here  presented,  was  first  suggested  to  the  author  by 
his  brother,  George  Moulton  Carpenter,  late  judge  of  the 
United  States  courts  in  Providence.  It  has  been  a  source 
of  the  deepest  regret  that  his  sudden  death,  before  the 
work  had  hardly  been  begun,  deprived  the  writer  of  advice 
and  suggestion,  which  could  not  have  failed  to  be  of  the 
greatest  value. 


CONTENTS 
INTRODUCTION 

The  English  separatists.  The  rise  of  diverse  sects.  Twelfth 
century  struggles  for  religious  freedom.  The  act  of  supremacy. 
Thft  rise  of  separatism.  Robert  Browne  and  Brownism.  Liberal 
sentlnlSnt  &l\d  William  of  Orange.  Execution  of  Copping  and 
Thacker.  Writings  of  Martin  Mar,  prelate.  Work  of  Greenwood 
and  Barrowe.  Their  execution.  Apostacy  of  Browne.  Migration 
to  Holland.  The  Anabaptists.  The  Mennonites.  Alva  and  the 
flight  from  Holland.  The  act  of  banishment.  The  Scrooby 
congregation.  Fourfold  nature*  of  the  struggle  for  religious  liberty. 
Loyola  and  the  Jesuits.  Henry  VIII  and  tFe  English  church.  The 
Pope's  offer  of  arbitration.  The  prostestantism  of  Elizabeth.  Her 
Act  of  Supremacy.  Rise  of  the  Puritans.  Hooper  and  his 
non-conformism.  Mary  and  her  religious  reign.  The  vestment 
controversy.  The  Act  of  Uniformity.  The  Puritan  resistance. 
Puritan  and  iSeparati'ito      A  new  comer  in  New  England. 


CHAPTER  I 3 

Arrival  nf  Rngrr  Willinrm  «t  TWt.rm  His  birth  and  ancestor.  A 
genealogical  controversy.  His  education.  His  love  episode  and 
the  Barrington  letters.  Ride  of  Hooker,  Williams  and  Cotton  to 
Sempringham.     Jane   Whalley.     Williams   invitod  to  supply    the 

Bulpit  o?  the  First  Chnrrh  in  Boston       The    wife    of   Williams, 
larriage  of  Jane  Whalley. 


CHAPTER  II 28 

W-tlliaiuu  dctlim*aL-the  invitation  and  withdraws  tp_  Plym a  1 1*» 
Williams_ft  popwrafigT  Demands  repentance  ul  Boston  Church. 
Missing  records  of  the  SaferfFChurch.  Goes  to  Plymouth.  His 
life  there.  Gov.  Winthrop's  visit  to  Plymouth.  Disputatious 
temperament  of  Williams.  Birth  of  daughter  of  Williams. 
Bradford's  estimate  of  Williams.  Mutual  affection  of  Winthrop 
and  Williams. 


x  Contents 

CHAPTER  III 43 

Williams  removes  from  Plymouth  to  Salem.  The  separatists  of 
that  settlement.  Renewal  of  controversies.  Attack  upon  the 
ministerial  association.  The  attack  upon  the  validity  of  the  patent. 
Attack  upon  the  King.  A  hastily  called  conference.  Williams 
confesses  error.  Controversy  with  John  Cotton.  The  question 
of  veils.  Cotton's  remarkable  sermon.  Endicott  and  the  En- 
sign.   The  oath  of  fidelity.    Williams  attacks  the  oath. 

CHAPTER  IV 59 

Political  status  of  the  colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay.  Sir  Ferd- 
inando  Gorges  and  Captain  Mason  falsely  accuse  the  colonists. 
Sir  Christopher  Gardiner.  Winthrop  and  Bradford.  Gorges  dream 
of  the  empire.  The  settlement  of  Wessagaset.  Grant  to  Endicott. 
John  Mason  and  his  claim.  Career  of  Sir  Christopher.  Thomas 
Morton  and  his  settlement.  The1  maypole  of  Merry  Mount. 
Morton  furnishes  arms  to  the  Indians.  Bradford  denounces 
Morton.    His  arrest  and  deportation.    Distress  in  New  England. 

CHAPTER  V 81 

Arrest  of  Morton  ordered.  Sentence  to  be  deported.  Morton's 
reputation  in  England.  Philip  Ratcliffe  and  his  offence.  His 
sentence  of  mutilation  and  banishment.  Morton's  version  of  the 
affair.  The  sentence  remitted.  Ratcliffe  deported.  The  attack 
upon  the  charter  in  England.  Gardiner,  Morton  and  Ratcliffe  wit- 
nesses against  the  colonists.  Governor  Winthrop's  shrewd  con- 
duct. The  spirit  of  colonization.  The  Pope's  grant  of  land  in 
North  America.  The  statute  of  praemunire.  Rights  of  Spain 
and  Portugal  in  the  new  world.  First  attempts  at  English  colo- 
nization in  America.  Colonial  rights  under  the  charter.  Later 
fortunes  of  Thomas  Morton.  Morton's  record  of  the  Ratcliffe 
matter. 

CHAPTER  VI 92 

r  Endicott's  reason  for  mutilating  the  colors.  Attitude  of  King 
Charles  towards  the  Massachusetts  colony.  Archbishop  Laud's 
attention  attracted.  Colonists  prepare  for  an  attack.  Military 
preparations.  Boston's  beacon.  Critical  condition  of  affairs 
in  Massachusetts.  Attack  of  Williamsjipon  the  patent  sim- 
ultaneous with  that  of  Gorges.  Williams'  assault  upon  the  royal 
prerogl  * 


Contents  xi 

CHAPTER  VII 99 

Death  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Skelton,  pastor  at  Salem.     Williams  called 
i !» in.  Breaks  his  promise  to  Massachusetts  magistrates.     Sum- 
moned by  magistrates  to  appear  at  Boston.      Hearing  in  Boston 
upon  his  case.     His  opinions  adjudged  to  be  dangerous.     He  refuses | 
to    communicate    with    the    churches.     The    Salem    church   joinsj 
with  him  in  opposing  the  magistrates.     Salem  deputies  suspended. 
Endicott  declared  to  be  in  contempt.     Williams  ordered  to  de- 
part from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  colony.     The  Salem  church  ac- 
knowledges   error.     Hooker's    sharp    argument    with    Williams. 
Williams  renounces  communion  witn  the  Salem  church^  Case  of 
Israel  Stoughton.     Sentence  of  Williams  suspended.     He  resumes 
his  belligerent  attitude^  It  is  determined  to  deport  Williams.     His 
flight  from  Salem. 


CHAPTER  VIII 112 

Williams'  love  of  controversy.  Dr.  Johnson's  discussion  of  the 
subject  of  the  liberty  of  conscience^  Bradford's  comment  on 
Williams.  Probable  cause  of  Williams'  withdrawal  from  Plymouth. 
Some  of  his  characteristics.      His  work  among  the  Indians.      Some 

inconsistencies*^  Williams  an  owner  of  real  estate  in  Salem.      His 

bauishment  an  enlftrgerPpnt  Jfinttrm.  MntWn  record  of  the  banish- 
ment ofWiiitams: — Governor  Winslow's  affection  for  Williams. 
Winslow's  record  of  the  cause  of  Williams'  banishment.  Sir 
William  Martin's  letter  to  Winthrop. 


CHAPTER  IX 126 

Wanderings  of  Williams  after  his  banishment.  His  settlement 
at  Seekonk  and  later  at  the  head  waters  of  the  Narragansett.  His 
companions.  His  review  of  his  banishment  in  a  letter  to  Cotton. 
Reply  of  Cotton.  The  removal  across  Seekonk.  The  Indians' 
salute.  The  settlement  at  Providence.  Wrjl]iamg  forma  n-d^nri""™^ 
The  Providence  compact.  Williams  a  close  friend  of  Cananicus 
and  Miantonamoh.  A  large  tract  of  country  conveyed  to  him. 
The  historic  initial  deed.    Conveyances. 


CHAPTER  X , 141 

The  new   colony  soon   troubled.     Joshua   Verin   and   his  wife. 
Winthrop's    record    of    the    Verin    episode.      Disaffections   among 
jw  England  colonists.     Troubles  among    the   Providence    colo- 
ns. 


i 


xii  Contents 

CHAPTER  XI 148 

The  Pequods  and  their  attitude  towards  the  colonists.  Williams 
as  a  peacemaker.  Correspondence  in  Pequod  matter.  The  league 
with  the  Narragansetts.  Dastardly  act  of  four  Massachusetts 
men.     Arrest  of  the  murderers,  trial  and  execution. 

CHAPTER  XII 163 

Williams   interested   in   tenets   of  anabaptistsf   Ezekiel   Holli-. 
man.     Mrs.  Scott.     Holliman  and  Williams  join  in  re  baptisms/ 
Williams  soon  repudiates  the  new  baptism^    Williams  concerning 
immersion^   Cotton    Mather's    record.""  Curious    new    departure 
of  Williams.*  His  controversy  with  John  Cotton. «i/ 

CHAPTER  XIII 177 

Williams  starts  for  England  to  procure  a  charter.  His  work 
as  a  pacificator  at  New  Amsterdam.  Sails  for  England.  Important 
literary  work  on  the  voyage.  Reaches  England.  The  Long 
parliament  in  session.  Negotiates  for  charter.  His  movement 
for  providing  the  London  poor  with  coal.  Issues  his  "  Bloudy 
Tenant."  John  Cotton's  reply  and  Williams'  rejoinder.  The 
Virginia  Declaration  of  Rights  and  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
antedated  by  Williams.  "Bloudy  Tenant."  The  Cotton- 
Williams  Controversy.  Williams'  "  Queries  of  Highest  Consideration." 
Discovery  of  a  hitherto  unknown  Williams'  pamphlet.  Williams 
negotiates  with  Warwick  for  a  charter.  Is  successful.  Sets  out 
upon  his  return  voyage.  Applies  for  permission  to  pass  through 
Boston,  which  is  granted. 


CHAPTER  XIV 192 

Williams  again  at  Providence.  Resumes  his  work  as  an  Indian 
pacificator.  A  meeting  of  commissioners.  Report  of  messengers. 
War  fortunately  averted.  A  treaty  of  peace  concluded  conten- 
tions among  the  colonists  and  efforts  of  Williams  to  quell  them. 
Coddington's  coup.  Williams  despatched  again  to  England.  His 
petition  to  Massachusetts  Bay  for  permit  to  pass  through  its  terri- 
tory. Sails  for  England  from  Boston.  Appearance  of  his  "  Bloudy 
Tenant  yet  more  Bloudy."  Intimacy  of  Williams  with  Milton. 
His  familiarity  with  the  Dutch  language.  His  correspondence 
with  Mrs.  Sadlier.  Is  entertained  by  Sir  Henry  Vane.  Codding- 
ton's  commission  vacated.     Williams  returns   to  New   England. 


Contents  xiii 

CHAPTER  XV        207 

Friendship  of  Williams  with  Winthrop.  Their  correspondence. 
Earthquake  in  New  England.  Records  of  Bradford  and  Winthrop 
concerning  the  phenomenon.  Correspondence  with  John  Cotton 
the  younger.  Trie  William  Harris  episode.  Defense  of  Williams 
in  the  Harris  controversy.  Commercial  ventures  of  Williams  at 
Narragansett.  His  means  of  livelihood.  Family  relations  of 
Williams.     Birth  record  of  his  children. 

CHAPTER  XVI 231 

Controversy  of  Williams  with  George  Fox.  Visit  of  Fox  at 
Aquidneck.  Williams'  challenge.  Rows  from  Providence  to 
Newport  to  engage  in  debate.  The  famous  debate  in  the  Quaker 
meeting-house  at  Newport.  Publication  of  "George  Fox  digg'd 
out  of  nis  Burrowes".  Rejoinder  of  Fox  in  "A  New  England  Fire- 
brand Quenched"  The  Controversy  nhfl.rn.r.t.prizpd1^  Charirtpr  f)f 
WJlliamg  Bnnlygftd,  Bradford's  estimate  of  the  man.  His  one 
great  discovery.  Death  of  Williams.  His  grave  and  the  apple 
tree  which  grew  from  it.    Conclusion. 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

The   Roger  Williams  Statue      .  .  .  Frontispiece 

The  Charter  House  .  .  .  Facing  page        14 

Roger  Williams'   Dwelling,  at  Salem,   Mass       .  .120 

The  Abbott  House  ( 1658),  Providence,  R.  I.  .      164 


INTRODUCTION 


THE    ENGLISH    SEPARATISTS 


The  century  which  saw  the  rise  of  the  Reformation  saw, 
also,  in  some  of  the  countries  of  Europe,  what  was  a 
necessary  sequence,  the  rise  of  diverse  religious  sects. 
More  properly  speaking,  perhaps,  it  saw,  in  England,  the 
development,  not  merely  of  religious  sects,  but  of  a  senti- 
ment which,  finding  its  natural  outlet  in  religion,  expanded 
itself,  until  it  invaded  the  realm  of  politics,  and  broadened 
and  established  a  new  theory  in  the  life  of  men  and  the 
conduct  of  nations.  The  sixteenth  century  was  an  era  of 
transition,  a  period  in  which  the  human  mind,  dimly  look- 
ing into  the  mists  of  the  future,  was  girding  and  preparing 
itself  for  a  struggle  which  was  to  end,  long  years  after,  in 
the  establishment  of  new  thoughts,  new  principles,  a 
broader  life,  and  a  more  thorough  recognition  of  human 
rights  and  duties.  And  yet,  the  sentiment  of  freedom  in 
religious  thought  did  not  spring  forth,  fully  fledged,  at  the 
dawn  of  the  Reformation.  Even  so  long  ago  as  the  twelfth 
century,  a  company  of  weavers  of  Worcester,  who  thought 
that  they  saw  before  them  a  glimmer  of  light — a  light  which 
years  after,  brightened  into  the  full  dawn, — honored  with 
the  name  of  heretic,  paid  with  their  lives  the  penalty  of 
their  presumption. 

But  the  lash,  the  pillory,  and  the  stake  have  ever  failed 
to  do  their  perfect  work.  The  flames  might  consume  the 
bodies  of  men,  but  they  have  never  caused  the  human  mind 
to  cease  its  activity,  nor  served  to  check  its  onward  progress 
toward  freedom.     Plantaganet  and  Lancaster,  York  and 


xviii  Introduction 

Tudor  each  in  turn  found  his  realm  infected  with  doctrines 
and  tendencies  which,  to  him,  appeared  fraught  with  the 
gravest  danger  to  the  church  and  to  the  nation.  Each 
century  saw  a  strengthening  of  this  sentiment  and  a  deeper 
rooting  of  the  tiny  plant  which  would,  one  day,  grow  into 
a  stately  tree.  Four  hundred  years  after  the  thirty  weav- 
ers of  Worcester  had  been  scourged  and  driven  out  of  the 
city,  to  perish  of  exposure  and  hunger,  the  Act  of  Suprem- 
acy cancelled  the  power  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome  in  Eng- 
land, and  declared  Henry  to  be  the  head  of  the  English 
church. 

Broken  loose  from  the  bonds  of  Rome  the  people  of 
England  found  themselves  embarked,  as  it  were,  on  an  un- 
known sea  of  religious  thought,  and  in  a  condition  of  un- 
rest and  transition.  The  advent  of  the  era  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, and  the  establishment  of  the  English  church,  did  not 
serve  to  satisfy  those  minds  which  were  reaching  out  into 
yet  broader  fields ;  and  these  began  to  be  known  as  Sepa- 
ratists. In  the  days  of  Edward  VI  and  of  Mary  Tudor 
there  were  many  secret  gatherings  by  night,  in  private 
dwellings,  at  which  were  taught  those  doctrines  which  led 
many  of  their  advocates  to  martyrdom.  Elizabeth,  a 
sovereign  far  more  beneficent  than  her  immediate  prede- 
cessor, sympathizing  with  Protestantism,  saw  many  rea- 
sons why,  to  her  mind,  the  English  establishment  should 
be  maintained;  for  through  it  were  maintained  the  validity 
of  the  divorce  of  Katherine  and  of  the  marriage  of  Anne 
Boleyn,  her  own  legitimacy,  and  the  security  of  her  throne. 
The  queen  felt  no  hesitancy,  therefore,  whenever  a  con- 
gregation was  discovered  engaged  in  their  secret  and  in- 
terdicted worship,  in  casting  the  participants  into  prison. 
The  loathsome  condition  of  the  prisons  of  England  in  that 
day,  and  the  atrocious  and  cruel  manner  in  which  they 
were  conducted,  comprise  one  of  the  darkest  blots  which 


Introduction  xi* 

stain  English  civilization.  Many  of  the  victims  of  ecclesi- 
astical persecution  died  under  the  torture  of  incarceration 
and  thus  received  a  happy  release. 

Robert  Browne,  to  whom  perhaps  belongs  the  honor 
of  having  first  in  England  actively  promulgated  the  once 
dangerous  doctrine  of  a  separation  of  Church  and  State, 
was,  at  the  outset  of  his  career,  at  the  age  of  twenty-one, 
a  graduate  of  Cambridge,  in  holy  orders  in  the  Church  of 
England,  and  the  private  chaplain  to  the  Duke  of  Norfolk. 
He  would  appear  to  have  been  a  youth  given  to  some  in- 
dependence of  thought,  for  he  is  recorded  as  having  early 
given  offence  to  the  ecclesiastical  authorities,  by  the  ad- 
vocacy of  some  erratic  doctrines.  This  offence  seems  to 
have  been  overlooked,  doubtless  through  the  influence  of 
his  patron;  but  a  few  years  later,  he  was  rebuked  by  the 
bishop  of  the  diocese  in  which  he  was  preaching,  for  pro- 
mulgating doctrines,  which  did  not  comport  with  his  posi- 
tion as  a  priest  of  the  establishment.  Deprived  of  his 
living,  Browne  openly  became  a  dissenter.  Teaching 
and  preaching  in  the  open  air,  in  fields  and  pastures,  to 
whomsoever  would  listen,  Robert  Browne  speedily  became 
a  power  in  certain  districts  of  England.  In  Norfolk  he 
came  in  contact  with  a  former  college  acquaintance,  Robert 
Harrison  by  name,  whose  mind  also  had  been  turned  to- 
wards the  doctrines  of  these  strange  people.  Together  the 
two  went  to  Norwich,  where  a  congregatioe  was  gathered, 
to  which  they  ministered.  At  Bury  St.  Edmunds,  in  Suf- 
folk, also  they  labored;  but  here  they  were  apprehended 
upon  charge  of  gathering  congregations  of  dissent- 
ers, in  private  houses,  to  listen  to  heretical  and  treasonable 
doctrines.  After  serving  for  a  time  in  prison  for  this  of- 
fence the  two  were  released.  Their  fate  was  banishment, 
a  fate  which  was  to  them  a  release  from  persecution  and 
a  permission  to  dwell  in  a  foreign  land,  under  happier 


xx  Introduction 

auspices  than  had  been  theirs  in  their  own  country.  But 
in  migrating  to  Holland,  Browne  left  behind  him  a  name 
which,  attaching  itself  firmly  to  the  sect  which  he  had 
helped  to  establish,  served,  no  doubt,  to  increase  the 
feeling  of  antagonism  felt  toward  him  by  the  ecclesias- 
tical authorities.1 

It  was  in  1581  that  Browne  and  his  congregation  took 
up  their  abode  in  the  Dutch  city  of  Middleburg,  where 
was,  even  then,  a  small  colony  of  Anabaptists.  Against 
these  the  authorities  of  the  city  had,  in  1577,  set  on 
foot  a  persecution,  which  had  been  checked  by  William 
of  Orange.  "You  have  no  right  to  trouble  your- 
selves with  any  man's  conscience,"  he  said,  "so  long  as 
nothing  is  done  to  cause  harm  or  public  scandal;"2  a 
sentiment  which,  however  novel  at  that  day,  receives  in 
modern  times  its  full  recognition.  In  his  safe  retreat  at 
Middleburg,  Browne  entered  the  ranks  of  the  pam- 
phleteers and  put  forth  for  circulation  in  England,  books 
in  which  were  taught  doctrines  then  regarded  as  nothing 
else  than  assaults  upon  the  Queen's  supremacy.  Thus 
the  eastern  counties  of  England  were  flooded  with  these 
books  and  pamphlets,  sent  across  the  North  Sea  from 
Holland.  These  publications  were,  of  course,  speedily 
interdicted  and  their  circulation  forbidden. 

In  1583  John  Copping  and  Elias  Thacker,  who  had 
been  active  in  the  distribution  of  the  writings  of  Browne 
and  of  Harrison  were  apprehended,  put  upon  their  trial, 
convicted  and  sentenced  to  death.  The  sentence  was 
promptly  executed,  and  two  more  names  were  added  to 
the  already  long  list  of  martyr  Separatists.  A  dramatic 
act  at  the  execution  of  the  sentence  upon  these  men  was 


1The  Separatists  were  also  known  as  Brownists. 
2Motley—  The  Rise  of  the  Dutch  Republic,  iii,  334. 


Introduction  xxi 

the  burning,  in  their  sight,  before  arrival  of  the  fatal 
moment,  of  as  many  copies  of  the  objectionable  books  as 
the  authorities  had  been  able  to  gather  together. 

The  attempt  thus  made  to  stifle  human  thought  proved 
futile.  In  1588  the  attention  of  the  people  of  England 
was  attracted  to  a  series  of  pamphlets,  secretly  issued 
and  widely  disseminated,  under  the  signature  of  Martin 
Mar-prelate.  These  writings  were  in  a  satirical  vein  and 
thus  served  to  attract  wide  attention,  and  called  forth 
varied  comment.  The  most  strenuous  efforts  were  made 
to  discover  the  authorship  of  these  writings,  but  these 
efforts  were  vain  and  it  still  remains  as  deep  a  secret  as 
the  authorship  of  the  letters  of  Junius.  These  writings 
served  however,  to  keep  alive  the  flame  which  had  long 
been  burning,  and  the  anathemas  of  ecclesiastics  were 
powerless  to  quench  it. 

A  few  years  later  still,  two  names  more  were  added  to 
the  roll  of  martyr  Separatists — names  which  have  been 
handed  down  to  us  as  among  the  active  promoters  of  these 
doctrines,  so  obnoxious  to  statesman  and  ecclesiastic. 
John  Greenwood,  a  young  clergyman  of  the  Established 
church,  had  by  some  means  come  into  possession  of  one 
of  the  tracts  of  Browne.  It  made  a  deep  impression  upon 
his  mind  and  doubtless  had  its  effect  upon  his  ministra- 
tions, in  his  country  parish  of  Norfolk.  His  utterances 
attracted  the  attention  of  the  bishop  and,  in  1585,  Green- 
wood was  deprived  of  his  living.  Drifting  into  Essex,  he 
began  to  hold  meetings  at  Rochford  Hall.  Pursued  by 
the  bishop,  Greenwood  fled  to  London,  where  he  found 
a  large  company  of  Separatist  brethren,  who  were  wor- 
shipping in  secret.  In  1587  he  was  discovered  and  ar- 
rested, with  a  considerable  company,  upon  charge  of  being 
present  at  private  conventicles.  In  prison  he  met  a  fel- 
low sufferer,  Henry  Barrowe,  a  young  barrister,  whose 


xxii  Introduction 

name  later  became  identified  with  this  persecuted  sect. 
For  five  years  the  two  remained  prisoners,  engaged  mean- 
while in  writing  tracts  in  dissemination  of  their  faith. 
In  1593  the  two  were  put  upon  their  trial  and  condemned 
to  death.  Twice  were  they  reprieved,  even  after  the 
halters  had  been  put  about  their  necks.  Their  third 
journey  to  the  scaffold  was  their  last. 
--Thus  did  England  endeavor  to  root  out  heresy  from 
{among  the  people  and  by  this  means  to  maintain  the 
•English  church  and  the  Queen's  supremacy.  But  this 
Severity  availed  little.  Although  Robert  Browne,  in 
1586,  apostatized  from  the  new  faith  and  returned  to  the 
fold  of  the  Established  church,  where  he  officiated  as  a 
priest  for  many  years,  the  work  in  which  he  had  been  a 
leader  went  on.  It  was  seven  years  after  this  apostasy 
that  Greenwood  and  Barrowe  forfeited  their  lives  upon 
the  scaffold,  and  in  these  years  the  number  of  the  Sep- 
aratists had  not  diminished,  but  the  rather  had  increased. 
Fully  twenty  thousand  names  now  were  inscribed  on  the 
roll  of  this  sect.  These  made  their  homes  chiefly  in  the 
east  counties  of  England  and  inland  about  London.  The 
roll  of  the  dead  in  the  cause  has  never  been  fully  made  up. 
Alarmed  at  this  increase  in  the  sect,  which  it  seemed 
impossible  to  exterminate,  the  English  authorities  now 
enacted  a  statute  which  provided  that  any  person  above 
sixteen  years  of  age,  who  should  absent  himself  from 
church,  without  good  excuse,  for  the  space  of  one  month, 
who  should  induce  others  to  stay  away,  or  who  should 
write  or  speak  anything  derogatory  to  the  royal  authority, 
in  ecclesiastical  matters,  should,  at  the  end  of  three  months, 
if  refusing  to  conform,  be  banished  from  the  kingdom. 
All  convicted  persons,  refusing  to  leave  the  realm,  or  re- 
turning from  banishment,  without  permission  so  to  do, 
were  to  suffer  death. 


Introduction  xxiii 

This  statute  was  in  effect  a  release  from  prison  of  hun- 
dreds of  poor  creatures,  who  were  suffering  untold  tor- 
tures for  conscience's  sake.  Then  it  was  that  began  a 
great  migration  of  these  people  from  England,  across  the 
North  Sea,  into  that  Holland  from  which  their  Anabap- 
tist friends  had  been  driven  by  the  savage  cruelties  of  the 
Spanish  Alva. 

As  early  as  1522  had  risen  in  Holland  this  sect  called 
Anabaptists,  some  of  the  tenets  of  which  survive  until  the 
present  day.  Denying  the  validity  of  infant  baptism, 
these  people  accepted  also,  in  all  their  literalness,  the  doc- 
trines of  the  sin  of  bearing  arms,  of  resisting  evil,  of  ap- 
pealing to  law,  of  taking  judicial  oaths,  or  judging  others. 
In  Anabaptism  was  in  reality  the  germ  root,  from  out 
which  grew  the  great  principle  of  resistance  to  ecclesias- 
tical centralization.  It  was  more  than  a  sect;  it  was  a 
system.  A  term  of  reproach,  the  name  of  Anabaptist  grew, 
among  thoughtful  people,  to  become  one  of  honor;  and 
from  these  people  sprang  a  variety  of  sects,  many  of  which 
have  their  survival  to  the  present  day.  A  new  leader 
who  arose,  Menno  Simons,  founded  and  gave  his  name 
to  the  people  called  Mennonites;  and  in  this  and  the  des- 
ignations of  other  sects,  which  arose  upon  this  foundation, 
the  name  distinctive  of  Anabaptist  gradually  disappeared. 

It  was  this  germ  root  from  whence  sprang  the  greater 
part  of  the  modern  ideas  in  religion  and  statecraft,  which 
have  made  the  broadest  impress  upon  thought  and  char- 
acter. "In  whatever  else  they  differ,"  says  William  Elliot 
Griffis,  "the  ancestors  and  their  descendants  agree  in 
these  points:  the  liberation  of  religion  from  sectarian, 
priestly  and  political  control;  the  elimination  of  the  mob 
of  middlemen  in  religion  and  the  swarm  of  mediators  be- 
tween God  and  man;  the  practical  abolition  of  monopoly 
and  privilege  in  religion;  the  separation  of  Church  and 


xxiv  Introduction 

State;  freedom  of  conscience;  the  priesthood  of  believers; 
the  rights  of  the  independent  congregation;  honest  trans- 
lations of  the  Bible;  the  liberty  of  prophesying;  prison 
reform;  abolition  of  human  slavery;  the  salvation  of  in- 
fants and  of  the  seekers  after  God  in  non-Christian  lands; 
the  equalization  of  the  sexes  in  religion  and  privilege; 
and,  an  avowed  social  and  political  as  well  as  spiritual 
reform."  Such  was  the  outgrowth  from  the  spirit  of 
Anabaptism.  There  were  some  of  the  Anabaptists  of 
Holland,  it  is  true,  who  plunged  into  strange  excess, 
including  the  adoption  of  a  plurality  of  wives,  following, 
in  this,  the  example  of  the  patriarchs.  But  this  was  an 
episode,  and  the  example  of  the  few  did  not  make  its 
impress  upon  the  many;  and  this  feature  soon  fell  into 
abeyance. 

In  the  year  1567,  driven  by  the  persecutions  of  Alva, 
a  great  exodus  of  these  people, — fully  one  hundred  thou- 
sand in  number — occurred.  Fleeing  to  England  they 
found  their  homes  and  settled  in  the  counties  of  Norfolk, 
Suffolk  and  Essex.  It  was  in  these  counties,  and  in  those 
of  York,  Nottingham  and  Lincoln,  not  far  distant,  where 
were  found  many  members  of  the  sect  of  Separatists,  who, 
later  came  to  be  variously  known  as  Brownists,  Barrowists 
and  Independents.  Naturally,  here  they  came  in  contact 
with  their  fellow  non-conformists  from  over  the  sea,  and 
when,  at  the  adoption  of  the  Act  of  Banishment,  the  em- 
igration to  Holland  began,  the  Separatists  had  already 
become  imbued  with  some  of  the  doctrines  which  had 
been  brought  to  England  by  their  Anabaptist  brethren. 

Later  in  the  history  of  these  remarkable  people,  when 
James  I  had  succeeded  to  the  throne  of  Elizabeth,  the 
little  remnant  of  Separatists,  who  had  gathered  together 
in  Scrooby,  attempted  to  follow  the  great  body  of  their 
fellow  religionists  to  Holland.     But  the  folly  of  the  Act 


Introduction  xxv 

of  Banishment  had  been  seen,  since,  with  a  free  press  in 
Holland,  the  refugees  had  been  able  to  advance  their 
cause  in  England,  by  sending  their  literature  across  the 
sea,  far  better  than  they  could  have  performed  this  ser- 
vice had  they  remained  in  England.1  The  story  of  the 
escape  of  the  Scrooby  congregation,  their  subsequent 
settlement  in  Leyden,  and  their  emigration  and  final  set- 
tlement at  Plymouth  in  New  England,  is  a  story  as  famil- 
iar, as  it  is  attractive,  to  American  ears. 

This  is,  briefly  told,  the  story  of  the  Separatists  of  Eng- 
land, whose  connection  with  the  subject  of  this  history  will 
disclose  itself,  as  the  narrative  expands;  whose  doctrines, 
especially  those  which  have  made  the  deepest  impress 
upon  the  world's  civilization  he  adopted,  and  which  he, 
years  later,  expounded  and  developed. 

The  struggle  for  religious  freedom  in  England,  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  however,  was  quadrangular.  We  have 
already  seen  how,  from  out  the  stock  of  the  Established 
church  grew  luxuriantly  the  branch  which  we  call  by  the 
name  of  Separatists.  The  great  revival  of  learning,  which 
had  swept  over  Europe  and  which  is  known  to  history  as 
the  Renaissance,  was  accompanied  by  a  quickening  of 
the  popular  conscience,  a  sentiment  which  had  its  expo- 
nents in  Luther  and  in  Calvin  and  in  their  fellow  lead- 
ers in  the  Reformation.  With  Luther  and  Calvin,  upon 
the  stage  of  life,  came  beside  them  a  third  figure.  No 
less  earnest  and  sincere  in  his  leadership,  than  were  the 
fathers  of  the  Reformation  in  theirs,  was  Ignatius  Loyo- 
la, the  founder  of  the  Order  of  the  Jesuits.  Side  by  side 
with  the  struggle  of  conformist  and  non-conformist,  was 
waged,  by  Loyola  and  his  adherents,  the  struggle  for  the 
extermination  of  both.     During  this  struggle,  which  now 


'Motley— The  Rue  of  the  Dutch  Republic,  iii,  616  et  seq. 


xxvi  Introduction 

bade  fair  to  be  won  by  one  faction  and  now  by  the  other, 
sprang  full  panoplied  as  from  the  earth,  a  new  sect,  des- 
tined to  exert  an  influence  quite  as  powerful,  within  its 
sphere,  as  was  that  of  the  Jesuits.  The  English  church, 
founded  in  England  by  Henry  the  Eighth,  at  the  refu- 
sal of  the  pope  to  sanction  his  divorce  from  Katherine 
of  Aragon,  was,  as  we  have  already  seen,  strengthened 
and  upheld  by  Elizabeth,  the  daughter  of  Anne  Boleyn. 
This  monarch,  upon  the  death  of  her  sister  Mary  and 
her  own  accession  to  power  in  England,  despatched  mes- 
sengers, according  to  custom,  to  the  several  courts  of 
Europe,  to  announce  that  a  new  sovereign  had  ascended 
the  English  throne.  Elizabeth  could  not  have  anticipa- 
ted that  this  intelligence  would  be  received  with  univer- 
sal pleasure.  She  was  quite  sure  that  her  name  would 
not  be  received  at  the  French  court  with  acclaim;  since 
Mary  Stuart  of  Scotland,  once  the  wife  of  the  dauphin 
of  France,  was,  in  the  view  of  every  true  Frenchman  and 
Romanist,  the  rightful  sovereign  of  England.  At  Rome 
she  could  scarcely  have  expected  a  warm  welcome  for 
her  emissary;  for  had  not  the  Holy  See  refused  to  her 
father,  Henry  its  blessing  upon  his  union  with  the  mother 
of  the  new  queen  ?  It  could  not  have  been  with  surprise, 
then,  that  she  listened  to  the  message  sent  by  the  vener- 
able pontiff,  Paul  IV,  that  he  was  unable  to  comprehend 
the  hereditary  right  of  one  who  was  not  born  in  lawful 
wedlock;  that  the  Queen  of  Scots  was  undoubtedly  the 
legitimate  sovereign  of  England;  but  that  he  was  willing 
to  act  as  arbitrator  in  the  controversy,  if  Elizabeth  should 
be  willing  to  submit  it  to  his  judgment.  It  is  readily 
understood  that  the  new  queen,  young  and  imperious, 
had  no  thought  of  submitting  the  question  of  her  legit- 
imacy and  of  her  constitutional  right  to  the  throne,  to 
the  arbitration  of  one  who,  in  the  same  breath  in  which 


Introduction  x*vii 

he  offered  his  services,  had  declared  his  prejudgment 
of  the  matter  to  be  arbitrated.  With  such  strained  re- 
lations with  the  Papacy,  Elizabeth  could  scarcely  expect 
that  the  pope  would  listen  to  a  request  from  Philip  of 
Spain,  for  a  dispensation,  by  which  he  might  be  enabled 
to  contract  a  matrimonial  alliance  with  his  sister-in-law, 
and  thus  continue  to  be  the  Prince  Consort  of  England. 
Thus  hedged  about,  Elizabeth  had  no  choice  but  to 
declare  for  Protestantism,  if  she  would  maintain  her 
sovereignty.  But  Elizabeth,  during  the  reign  of  Mary, 
for  prudential  reasons,  doubtless,  had  espoused  the  faith 
of  Rome.  She  allowed  the  burial  of  her  sister  to  be  at- 
tended with  the  full  pomp  and  ceremonials  of  the  Roman 
church.  She  allowed  a  bishop  of  that  church  to  place 
her  own  crown  upon  her  head.  She  was  fond  of  the 
gorgeous  ceremonials,  the  ritual,  and  the  vestments  of 
the  church  of  Rome;  and  it  was  not  without  a  struggle 
that  she  brought  herself  to  renounce  them.  Indeed,  in 
the  details  of  the  worship  of  the  English  church,  Eliza- 
beth long  and  sturdily  struggled  for  a  retention  of  much 
which  the  Calvinistic  reformers  rejected.  Long  after 
the  lighted  candles  and  the  crucifix  had  been  banished 
from  the  English  churches,  the  queen  retained  them  in 
her  own  private  chapel.  She  insisted  upon  the  reten- 
tion of  the  Roman  vestments,  by  her  clergy.  She  long 
maintained  her  belief  in  the  Real  Presence;  and  she  insist- 
ed upon  the  celibacy  of  her  clergy.  Indeed,  Elizabeth! 
so  far  as  doctrine  and  ceremonial  were  concerned,  waif 
Protestant  scarcely  more  than  in  name.  The  Papal  See^ 
insisted  upon  its  supremacy,  as  well  in  political  as  in  re- 
ligious affairs;  it  threw  the  weight  of  its  influence  against 
the  de  facto  queen  of  England,  and  in  favor  of  the  preten- 
sions of  the  Queen  of  Scots. 

I 


xxviii  Introduction 

The  first  act  passed  by  the  parliament  summoned  by 
Elizabeth,  after  her  accession,  was  the  Act  of  Supremacy. 
This  act  provided  the  penalties  of  treason  for  those  who 
presumed  to  deny  that  the  queen  was  "the  only  supreme 
governor  within  the  realm,  as  well  in  spiritual  or  eccle- 
siastical causes  and  things  as  temporal.' '  To  maintain  her 
own  supremacy,  then,  Elizabeth  not  alone  declared  her- 
self and  her  realm  to  be  independent  of  the  dictation  of 
the  Roman  pontiff,  but  also  declared  herself  to  be,  in  his 
stead,  in  England,  the  head  of  both  State  and  Church. 
It  was  the  opening  of  the  gates  for  those  who  were  to 
come  after,  who,  on  the  other  side  of  the  sea,  should  en- 
lighten the  world  in  the  great  precept  that,  to  govern  a 
state,  in  the  fear  of  God,  is  not  an  attribute  of  ecclesi- 
asticism  alone;  and  that,  to  control  aright  the  affairs  of 
God's  church,  is  alike  the  duty  and  the  privilege  of  His 
ministers  and  of  His  people,  unhampered  and  undis- 
turbed  by  political   sovereignty. 

And  now,  at  the  outset  of  her  reign,  a  new  sect  arose  to 
vex  the  young  queen.  As  a  Protestant,  Elizabeth  had,  as 
already  seen,  retained  an  attachment  to  many  of  the  forms 
of  the  Roman  church.  In  this  she  had  consistently  fol- 
lowed Luther,  for  his  idea  of  a  reformation  in  the  church 
had  touched  matters  of  doctrine  alone.  The  teachings 
of  Calvin,  however,  went  much  further  than  this;  and  in 
the  churches  of  Calvinistic  faith  the  utmost  plainness  of 
ceremonial,  of  ornamentation  and  of  dress  were  affected. 
During  the  reign  of  Mary,  many  of  these  extreme  reformers 
had  been  sent  to  the  stake  and  many  others  had  fled  for 
their  lives.  When  these  refugees  saw  a  Protestant  sov- 
ereign upon  the  throne,  they  were  encouraged  to  return 
and  soon  their  voices  were  again  heard  in  England.  It 
was  in  the  antagonism  which  at  once  arose,  between  a 
queen,  on  the  one  hand,  who  retained  a  strong-preference 


Introduction  xxix 

for  the  ancient  ceremonials  of  Rome,  and  a  large  body  of 
the  clergy,  on  the  other,  who  were  sturdy  adherents  of 
the  complete  reformation  urged  by  Calvin,  that  the  power- 
ful body  known  as  the  Puritans  had  its  rise. 

This  sect  differed  from  the  Separatists,  in  that  they 
advocated  no  separation  from  the  Established  Church  of 
England.  In  May,  1629,  Francis  Higginson,  leading  his 
followers  to  the  New  World,  stood  upon  the  prow  of  the 
vessel,  which  was  bearing  them  out  of  sight  of  their  native 
land,  and  exclaimed:  "We  will  not  say,  as  the  Separa- 
tists were  wont  to  say,  at  their  leaving  England,  *  Farewell, 
Babylon!  farewell,  Rome!';  but  we  will  say:  *  Farewell, 
dear  England!  farewell,  the  Church  of  God  in  England! 
and  all  the  Christian  friends  there!  We  do  not  go  to 
New  England  as  separatists  from  the  Church  of  England, 
though  we  cannot  but  separate  from  the  corruptions  in  it; 
but  we  go  to  practise  the  positive  part  of  church  refor- 
mation and  propagate  the  gospel  in  America.'  "  l 

Seeking  to  purify  the  church  from  the  last  lingering 
vestige  of  Romanism,  these  people  were  given  the  name 
which,  alternately  a  term  of  reproach  and  of  approbation, 
became  in  time  a  power  throughout  England,  a  power 
which  reached  its  culmination,  years  later,  in  that  historic 
tragedy,  in  front  of  the  Banqueting  House  at  Whitehall. 

The  true  beginning  of  Puritanism,  however,  must  be 
fixed  at  a  time  even  earlier  than  that  of  Elizabeth.  Al- 
though these  people  were  not  known  by  the  distinctive 
name  of  Puritans,  until  the  days  of  the  virgin  queen,  the 
principle  of  non-conformity  first  appeared,  with  John 
Hooper  as  its  exponent,  in  the  days  of  Henry  the  Eighth. 
Although  this  monarch's  relations  with  the  Holy  See  had 
suffered  an  open  rupture,  it  would  not  appear  that  he 


'Mather's  Magnolia  Chrisli  Americana,  ii,  328. 


xxx  Introduction 

sympathized  with  the  religious  movement  known  as  the 
Reformation.  As  did,  in  later  years,  his  daughter  Eliza- 
beth, King  Henry  sought  only  to  form  a  new  church,  with 
himself  as  the  head,  a  church  which  should  preserve  all 
the  doctrines  and  usages  of  Rome.  His  desire  was  merely 
to  effect  a  schism,  or  a  revolt  against  the  claims  of  head- 
ship set  up  by  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  and  not  a  reforma- 
tion, or  a  recasting  of  the  doctrines  of  the  church.  When, 
therefore,  John  Hooper  appeared  as  the  advocate  in 
England,  of  the  new  thought,  which  had  been  advanced 
by  Luther,  he  found  it  necessary  to  seek  refuge  from 
persecution  in  Switzerland. 

Returning  to  his  own  country  on  the  accession  of  Ed- 
ward VI,  he  was  appointed  to  the  bishopric  of  Gloucester; 
but,  on  his  refusal  to  wear  the  vestments  of  the  Roman 
church  he,  instead  of  a  bishop's  palace,  was  given  a  home 
in  a  prison.  After  an  imprisonment  of  a  year  his  scruples 
were  so  far  overcome,  that  he  consented  to.be  arrayed  in 
the  dress  prescribed  for  a  bishop,  during  his  consecra- 
tion, with  the  understanding  that,  at  other  times  he  might 
be  permitted  to  discard  it.  With  this  compromise  Hooper 
was  released  and  was  consecrated  Bishop  of  Gloucester, 
in  March,  1551.  Four  years  later,  by  order  of  Mary, 
he  was  burned  at  the  stake,  the  first  of  the  Puritan  mar- 
tyrs. 

The  severities  which  characterized  the  reign  of  Mary, 
served  to  check  the  spread  of  non-conformity,  which  she 
confounded  with  the  Lutherism  of  Germany.  But  after 
the  close  of  her  inglorious  reign,  and  the  accession  of  her 
half-sister,  as  already  seen,  the  exiles  who  had  escaped 
the  stake  by  taking  refuge  in  Holland,  Switzerland  and 
elsewhere  began  to  return  and  to  resume  their  work. 
Many  of  the  bishops  of  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  were  open 
adherents  of  the  new  faith.     The  influence  of  the  years 


Introduction  xxxi 

passed  in  exile,  and  of  the  teachings  of  the  continental 
reformers,  especially  of  Calvin  and  his  followers  now 
began  to  be  felt.  The-ias4s4eirce^ef4his^jiew^sect^ within 
the  pale  of  (lit  English  church,  was  upon  the  rejection, 
not  <»nly  uf  the  headship  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  but  also 
of  the  forms,  ceremonies  and  doctrines  of  the  Roman 
church.  To  many,  indeed,  the  episcopacy  itself  became 
an  abomination;  and  two  orders  only,  of  the  clergy,  it  was 
claimed  were  sanctioned  by  the  Scriptures. 

From  this  waning  belief  in  the  episcopacy  grew  forth  a 
sentiment  of  disbelief  in  the  necessary  validity  of  episco- 
pal ordination.  Many  of  the  clergy  of  the  English  church 
at  this  time  who  held  livings,  had  been  set  apart  to  the  work 
of  the  ministry,  after  the  congregational  form,  this  or- 
dination being  accepted,  if  not  formally  recognized,  as 
valid. 

The  example  of  Hooper,  in  refusing  to  wear  the  vest- 
ments of  the  church,  was  followed  by  many  others.  The 
alb  and  the^stole  became-ia be-regarded  by  many  as  em- 
blematic of  superstition,  even  as  pictures  and  images  in 
the  churches,  were  regarded  as  idolatrous.  A  vigorous 
controversy  arose  and  many  of  the  clergy  preferred  the 
loss  of  their  benefices  to  submission  even  to  the  compro- 
mise of  the  surplice.  This  growing  discontent  with  the 
retention  in  the  English  church  of  the  forms  and  symbols 
of  Rome,  excited  the  alarm  of  the  queen.  Especially 
was  she  alarmed  when  the  agitation  reached  the  great 
universities,  and  gown  and  surplice  came  more  and 
more  to  be  discarded. 

The  vestment  controversy,  which  largely,  gave  rise 
to  Separatism,  was  followed  by  an  earnest  discussion  of 
the  use  of  the  sign  of  the  cross  in  baptism;  of  the  custom 
of  kneeling  in  partaking  of  the  sacrament  of  the  Last 
Supper,  as  being  regarded  as  an  act  of  adoration  of  the 


xxxii  Introduction 

Real  Presence;  and  of  the  employment  of  the  organ  and 
other  instruments  of  music,  as  adjuncts  to  divine  wor- 
ship. Upon  a  reformation  in  the  church,  which  should 
include  the  abolition  of  these  customs,  the  Puritan  wing 
in  the  church  steadily  insisted;  and  their  attitude  was  as 
vigorously  resisted  by  the  conformists.  Indeed,  the  new 
sect  began  to  demand  that  whatever  savored  of  Rome 
should  be  abolished  from  the  church,  thus  adopting  the 
extreme  position  of  Calvin. 

The  Act  of  Supremacy  was  speedily  followed  by  the  Act 
of  Uniformity.  This  act  forbade  the  use  in  the  churches, 
of  any  prayer  book  save  the  second  of  Edward  VI; 
and  it  imposed  a  fine  of  one  shilling  upon  all  who  absent- 
ed themselves  from  divine  worship,  without  any  lawful 
or  reasonable  excuse  for  such  absence.  Upon  these  two 
acts  Elizabeth  based  those  claims  by  which  she,  as  sover- 
eign of  England,  assumed  to  control  the  consciences  of 
her  subjects  and  hold  them  in  subjection,  in  matters  ec- 
clesiastical as  well  as  political.  The  great  controversy 
which  followed  and  which  convulsed  the  nation,  served 
to  strengthen  the  ranks  of  the  Puritan  sect,  and  to  raise 
up,  in  Cromwell  and  his  followers,  its  great  exponents, 
and  in  Archbishop  Laud  and  his  fellow  ecclesiastics  its 
bitter  enemies.  The  Puritan  resisted,  as  an  invasion 
of  his  rights  of  conscience,  the  contention  of  the  sover- 
eign, that  the  power  lay  in  the  crown  to  correct  and  pun- 
ish abuses  of  doctrine  and  worship.  He  denied  the 
claim  that  the  Church  of  Rome,  despite  its  corruptions, 
was  a  true  church;  and  he  denied  the  right  of  the  Bishop 
of  Rome,  in  his  claim  to  the  headship  of  the  Christian 
world.  The  Puritan  held  closely  to  the  Scriptures  as  the 
true  guide,  in  matters  of  government  and  discipline, 'as  well 
as  in  matters  of  faith;  a  contention  which  his  opponents 
did  not  admit.     His  opponents  maintained  the  right  of 


Introduction  xxxiii 

the  civil  ruler  to  settle  all  questions  of  ceremonial  and  of 
ecclesiastical  vesture,  as  things  not  touched  upon  in  the 
Scriptures;  this  right  the  Puritan  denied.  This  last 
named  point  of  divergence  was  that  which  chiefly  brought 
upon  the  Puritan  sect  the  heavy  hand  of  civil  persecution, 
which  caused  many  of  them  to  flee  to  foreign  lands,  and 
which  led  both  Puritan  and  Separatist  to  find  homes  in 
the  New  World. 

Wide  as  was  the  divergence  between  the  sect  of  the 
Puritans  and  the  adherents  of  the  English  church,  it  was 
scarcely  wider  than  was  the  chasm  between  the  two  wings 
of  non-conformists.  While  this  divergence  of  doctrine 
was  so  great,  it  does  not  appear,  however,  that  there  was, 
at  any  time,  either  in  England  or  in  America,  any  incli- 
nation, on  the  part  of  Puritan,  or  of  Separatist,  to  per- 
secute each  other.  Both  sects  had  felt  the  heavy  hand 
of  the  English  law  as  administered  by  those  in  authority, 
and  both  fled  before  its  weight.  At  Plymouth,  in  jJew 
England,  a  little  company  of  Separatists  found  an  asy- 
lum, after  years  of  exile  in  Holland ;  to  Salem  and  to  Bos- 
ton came  the  Winthrop  company  of  Puritan  settlers,  to 
found  the  New  England  theocracy.  And  yet,  divergent 
in  their  ideas  of  church  polity,  and  filled  with  an  heredi- 
tary dislike  of  each  other,  these  two  settlements  lived  in 
the  sweetest  of  amity;  while  in  the  Old  World  the  dis- 
tinction between  the  two  sects  continued  to  be  widely 
marked.  The  tree  having  become  firmly  planted  in  the 
New  World,  in  the  course  of  time  the  theological  distinc- 
tion between  Separatist  and  Puritan  began  to  grow  less  and 
finally  disappeared.  The  Puritan  in  New  England,  by 
virtue  of  his  surroundings,  his  isolation,  the  political  and 
ecclesiastical  drift  of  the  times,  insensibly  allowed  the 
jigsm  between  the  two  sects  to  grow  less,  and  finally  to 
disappear.    And  yet,  with  the  memory  of  the  bitterness 


xxxiv  Introduction 

of  religious  dispute  still  fresh  in  his  mind,  it  is  not  to  be 
wondered  that  a  new-comer  among  the  New  England 
Puritans,  himself  imbued  with  the  doctrines  and  tra- 
ditions of  Separatism,  should  have  looked  askance  at 
those  among  whom  he  found  himself,  and  should  have 
felt  impelled  to  continue  the  old  controversies. 


ROGER   WILLIAMS 


ROGER  WILLIAMS 

CHAPTER  I 

It  was  early  in  the  month  of  February,  in  the  year  1630, 
that  the  good  ship  Lyon,  sixty-seven  days  from  Bristol, 
England,  dropped  anchor  at  Nantasket,  near  the  entrance 
to  the  harbor  of  Boston,  in  New  England.  She  had  had 
a  very  tempestuous  passage,  yet  all,  save  one,  of  her  twen- 
ty passengers  arrived  safe  and  in  good  health.  One 
young  man,  named  Way,  had  volunteered  to  assist  the 
crew  in  the  management  of  the  vessel,  during  a  tempest. 
While  employed  aloft,  he  missed  his  footing  and  fell  from 
the  spritsail  yard  into  the  sea.  It  was  a  fatal  fall,  for  the 
sea  ran  high,  wherein  no  boat  could  for  a  moment  live. 
We  may  easily  imagine  the  consternation  of  the  parents 
of  the  unhappy  lad,  as  they  watched  his  fast  receding  form, 
until   it   disappeared   forever   in   the   deep. 

Four  days  later,  upon  the  ninth  day  of  February,  the 
ship  Lyon,  in  the  midst  of  a  field  of  drifting  ice,  dropped 
anchor  before  Boston.  Among  the  passengers  who  land- 
ed was  one  to  whom  the  attention  of  the  people  was  at 
once  directed.  He  was,  so  Governor  John  Winthrop 
recorded1  "a  godley  minister,"  or,  as  another  chronicler 
describes  him,  a  man  "of  good  account  in  England,  for 
a  godly  and  zealous  preacher."2  His  name  was  Roger 
Williams. 


'Winthrop's  History  of  New  England. 

2HubbartTs  General  History  of  New  England,  ii,  202. 


4  Roger  Williams 

The  coming  of  this  man  marked  the  beginning  of  an 
episode  in  the  history  of  the  Colony  of  Massachusetts 
Bay,  brief,  but  remarkable.  He  was  welcomed,  doubt- 
less with  delight  and  reverence;  and  yet,  five  years  had 
not  elapsed  when  he  was  directed,  by  vote  of  the  Gen- 
eral Court,  to  "depart  out  of  this  jurisdiction,"  as  a 
disturber  of  the  peace  of  the  colony.  To  the  narrative 
and  discussion  of  this  brief  episode,  and  of  his  later 
life,  and  hischaracter,  the  pages  which  follow  are 
devoted. 

Who  was  this  man,  Roger  Williams,  who,  in  this  man- 
ner, had  come  into  the  life  of  the  colony?  What  city 
saw  his  birth,  and  who  were  his  father  and  his  mother? 
For  many  years  these  questions  remained  unanswered, 
and  his  parentage  was  a  genealogical  problem,  fascinating, 
yet  seemingly  impossible  of  solution.  Even  as  the  linea- 
ments of  his  face,  and  the  measure  of  his  stature  can  be 
sketched  by  the  idealist  alone,  so  also  the  events  of  his 
early  life,  before  he  came  to  these  shores,  could  only  be 
imagined.  Tradition,  for  years,  ascribed  to  him  a  Welsh 
origin;  but  for  this  tradition  no  satisfactory  foundation 
can  be  found.  For  want  of  a  better,  this  theory  of  the 
nativity  of  Roger  Williams  was  generally  accepted  by 
historians,  and  remained  undisputed  until  the  year  1889. 
In  April  of  that  year,  a  paper  was  read  before  the  Rhode 
Island  Historical  Society,  by  Reuben  A.  Guild,  LL.D., 
librarian  of  Brown  University,  in  which  the  writer  claimed 
to  have  made  an  important  discovery.  The  claim 
was  set  forth  that  Roger  Williams  was  the  third  son  of 
William  Willyams,  of  Roseworthy,  near  Gwineaf,  Corn- 
wall, England,   born  December  21,   1602. 

From  the  records  concerning  this  family,  Dr.  Guild 
now  made  the  further  discovery  that  it  comprised  two 
other  sons,  William  and  Arthur,  and  one  sister,  named 


A  Political  Pioneer  5 

Margaret.  In  support  of  his  theory,  Dr.  Guild  shows 
that  the  Roger  Williams  of  history,  in  a  document  exe- 
cuted in  16791,  declared  himself  to  be  "now  near  to  four- 
score years  of  age."  The  birth  of  Roger  Williams  of 
Cornwall  in  December,  1602,  is  certainly  thoroughly  in 
accord  with  this  statement.  But,  furthermore,  in  subtle 
and  ingenious  argument,  Dr.  Guild  shows,  from  Wil- 
liams' own  writings,  that  the  Roger  Williams  of  history 
was  not  in  good  favor  with  his  family,  on  account  of  his 
Separatist  tendencies,  having  been,  as  he  says  in  a  letter 
written  to  Winthrop,  in  1632,  "persecuted  in  and  out  of 
my  (his)  father's  house,  these  many  years."  Dr.  Guild 
urges  that  the  Willyams  family  of  Cornwall  were  wealthy 
and  proud,  and  were  quite  likely  to  have  assumed  an  at- 
titude of  hostility  and  disapproval  towards  a  member 
who  had  become  antagonistic  to  the  English  establish- 
ment. 

Again,  Dr.  Guild  shows  that  Roger  Williams  declares, 
in  his  "George  Fox,  Digg'd  out  of  his  Burrowes",  that 
he  had  lost  great  sums  in  the  chancery  in  England,  which 
losses  he  chose  to  bear  rather  than  submit  to  the  impo- 
sition of  a  judicial  oath.  He  argues  that  this  might  well 
apply  to  the  Roger  of  Cornwall,  who,  he  is  sure,  was  the 
son  of  a  wealthy  mother.  Still  again,  Dr.  Guild  turns 
to  philology  to  account  for  the  tradition  of  a  Welsh  origin 
of  Roger  Williams.  He  quotes  Max  Muller  in  saying 
that  the  ancient  Cornish  was  a  Celtic  language,  formed 
from  the  Cymric  and  Gaelic,  in  which  the  Welsh  dialect 
was  predominant.  "Being  brought  up  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Wales,"  says  Dr.  Guild,  "and  possessing  an  ar- 
dent Welsh  temperament,  he  would  naturally  be  regarded 
as  a  Welshman,  by  those  who  gave  the  information,  in 


W.I.  MM.  Soc.  Coll.,  \\l  m>. 


6  Roger  Williams 

1771,  to  Morgan  Edwards,  by  whom  the  tradition  of  Wil- 
liams' Welsh  origin  was  transmitted." 

Dr.  Guild  meets  with  some  difficulty  concerning  a  brother, 
Robert  Williams,  to  whom  Roger  Williams  makes  oc- 
casional allusion  in  his  writings,  and  whose  name  often 
appears  in  the  Rhode  Island  records.  He  recognizes 
the  fact  that  the  name  of  Robert  does  not  appear  in  the 
genealogy  of  the  Willyams  family  of  Cornwall,  a  fact  up- 
on which  other  genealogists,  who  oppose  Dr.  Guild,  place 
great  stress.  Dr.  Guild  suggests,  as  a  solution  of  this 
difficulty,  that  the  terms  "brother"  and  "brother-in-law" 
are  often  used  interchangeably,  and  that  Robert  Williams 
may  have  been  the  brother-in-law  of  Roger,  and  not  of 
his  own  blood. 

This  is  the  ingenious  argument  which  this  distinguished 
historical  student  built  up  to  sustain  his  theory  of  the 
identity  of  Roger  Williams  of  history,  with  Roger,  son 
of  William  Willyams,  of  Roseworthy,  near  Gwinear, 
Cornwall.  Other  genealogists,  and  notably,  Henry  F. 
Waters,  A.M.,  have  disputed  this  theory,  and,  in  the 
light  of  later  researches,  may  be  said  to  have  dispelled 
it.  In  the  interest  of  the  New  England  Historic-Gen- 
ealogic  Society,  of  Boston,  Mr.  Waters  has  made  a  careful 
search  of  the  records  of  probate  in  London.  In  the  year 
1889,  the  same  year  in  which  Dr.  Guild  promulgated 
his  theory,  he  made  some  remarkable  discoveries,  which 
shed  much  light  upon  the  subject  of  the  parentage  and 
early  life  of  Roger  Williams,  and  which,  beyond  doubt 
have  solved  the  mystery  which  has  so  long  perplexed  his* 
torian  and  genealogist1. 

It  is  certain  that  the  name  of  Roger  Williams  was  by 


1New  England  Historical  and  Genealogical  Register,  July,  1889,  pp.  290- 
30£     Ibid.  October,  1889,  p.  427. 


A  Political  Pioneer  7 

no  means  unique,  in  the  Puritan  age  in  England.     In- 
deed, there  was  another  New  England  settler  of  the  name, 
who  was  a  contemporary  of  his  distinguished  namesake, 
and  who  became  a  resident  of  Dorchester,  in  the  Colony 
of  Massachusetts   Bay.     The  mere  discovery,   then,   of 
the  name  among  ancient  records  is,  by  no  means,  con- 
clusive proof  that  its  owner  was  identical  with  the  founder 
of  Rhode  Island.     In  his  researches,  Mr.  Waters  finds 
that  still  another  Roger  Williams  was  born  in  London,      % 
near  the  opening  of  the  seventeenth  century;  and  vari- 
ous genealogical  tests  have  satisfied  even  the  most  credu-     Jr 
lous    that  he,   indeed,    it   was    who    afterwards    became  X 
famous  as  the  apostle  of  separation  of  Church  and  State. 

This  Roger  Williams  was  one  of  a  family  of  three  sons 
and  one  daughter,  the  children  of  James  Williams,  "a 
citizen  and  merchant  tailor  of  London,"  and  of  Alice, 
his  wife.  James  Williams  would  appear  to  have  been 
a  man  of  some  importance  and  of  considerable  property. 
His  last  will  and  testament  was  executed  September  7, 
1620  and  proved  November  19,  1621,  his  death  having, 
of  course,  occurred  in  the  interim. 

In  this  will,  James  Williams  bequeathed  one-third  part 
of  his  estate  to  his  "loving  wife,  Alice,  according  to  the 
custom  of  the  city  of  London."  To  his  sons,  Sydrach, 
Roger  and  Robert,  and  to  his  daughter,  Catherine,  the 
wife  of  Ralph  Wightman,  he  gave  each  a  portion.  The 
poor  were  well  remembered,  for  to  them  of  St.  Sep- 
ulchre's, without  Newgate;  to  them  of  Smithfield  quarter, 
of  Holborn  Cross  quarter,  and  of  Church  quarter,  he 
left  generous  sums  of  money  for  their  relief. 

Alice,  the  widow  of  James  Williams  survived  her  hus- 
band about  thirteen  years  and,  on  the  twenty-sixth  of 
January,  1634,  her  will  was  admitted  to  probate.  In  this 
instrument  she  directed,  among  other  bequests,  that  the 


8  Roger  Williams 

sum  of  ten  pounds  yearly,  for  twenty  years,  should  be 
paid  to  her  son,  Roger  Williams,  described  as  "now  be- 
yond the  seas,"  and  she  furthermore  provided  that  "if 
he,  the  said  Roger,  shall  not  live  to  receive  the  same  him- 
self, fully  in  such  manner  aforesaid,"  it  is  her  will  that 
"what  remaineth  thereof  unpaid  at  his  decease  shall  be 
paid  to  his  wife  and  to  his  daughter,  if  they  survive,  or 
to  such  of  them  as  shall  survive." 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Roger  Williams  described 
himself,  in  the  year  1679,  as  "near  to  four-score  years  of 
age."  There  is  a  record  that  Sydrach  Williams,  the  eld- 
er brother  of  this  family,  was  married  in  the  year  1621. 
Allowing  for  a  probable  difference  of  two  years  in  the 
ages  of  the  brothers,  and  upon  the  supposition  that  Sy- 
drach Williams  was  from  twenty-one  to  twenty-four  years 
of  age  at  his  marriage,  the  genealogist  finds  that  Roger 
was  probably  born  between  1599  and  1602,  dates  which 
tally  well  with  the  record  just  quoted. 

Mr.  Waters  thus  finds  no  apparent  discrepancy  be- 
tween the  age  of  Roger,  the  son  of  James  Williams,  and 
that  of  the  Roger  Williams  of  history,  so  far  as  it  can  be 
learned  from  his  writings.  Again,  Mr.  Waters  argues,  in 
support  of  his  position,  that  Alice  Williams,  of  St.  Sepul- 
chre's, London,  in  January,  1634,  bequeathed  a  certain 
sum  of  money  to  her  son  Roger,  "now  beyond  the  seas," 
with  a  reversion  to  his  wife  and  daughter.  At  the  date 
of  the  execution  of  this  will,  as  Mr.  Waters  points  out, 
Roger  Williams  was  in  New  England,  "beyond  the  seas," 
and  he  also  makes  significant  the  fact  that  he  had  then 
a  wife  and  a  daughter.  Mr.  Waters  does  not  state  his 
authority  for  this  last  statement,  but  it  is  undisputed 
that  Roger  Williams  was  accompanied  by  his  wife,  when 
he  first  came  to  New  England;  and  The  Early  Records 
of  the   Town  of  Providence,  published  since  Mr.  Waters 


A  Political  Pioneer  9 

concluded  his  researches,  include  an  entry  that  "Mary, 
vc  daughter  of  Roger  Williams  and  Mary  his  wife,  was 
borne  at  Plymouth,  ye  first  weeke  in  August,  1633  (so 
called)."1 

Mr.  Waters  meets  with  no  such  difficulty  as  that  which 
confronts  Dr.  Guild,  in  the  matter  of  Robert  Williams. 
He  finds  that  the  Roger  Williams  of  St.  Sepulchre's  had 
a  brother  of  that  name,  who  received  mention  in  the  wills, 
both  of  his  father  and  of  his  mother.  That  the  Roger 
Williams  of  history  had  a  brother  Robert  is  shown  from 
his  own  writings,  where  he  says:  "Mine  own  brother, 
Mr.  Robert  Williams,  Schoolmaster  in  Newport,  desired 
to  speak.  "2  To  this  may  be  added  the  fact,  of  which  Mr. 
Waters  was  perhaps  not  aware,  that  the  early  records 
of  Providence  make  frequent  mention  of  one  Robert  Will- 
iams, who  was  a  man  of  some  importance  in  the  colony, 
frequently  serving  as  moderator  of  the  town  meetings 
and,  upon  one  occasion  at  least,  serving  as  president  of 
the  general  court.  An  important  document,  known  as 
the  "Compact  of  the  Twenty-five  Acre  Purchasers,' '  exe- 
cuted January  19,  1645,  contains  the  names  of  Robert 
Williams  and  Roger  Williams  in  close  juxtaposition.3 

That  Robert  Williams  did  not  always  remain  a  citizen 
of  Providence  is  shown  by  a  deed,  printed  in  Volume  III 
of  Tfw  Early  Records  of  the  Town  of  Providence,  and  bear- 
ing date  of  October  13, 1671.  In  this  instrument  one  John 
Scott  conveys  to  Leander  Smyth  a  certain  parcel  of  land, 
described  as  one  "which  formerly  belonged  unto  Robert 

lThe  Early  Records  of  the  Town  of  Providence.  Edited  by  Horatio 
Rogers,  George  Moulton  Carpenter  and  Edward  Field,  i,  7. 

2George  Fox  Digg'd  out  of  his  Burrowes — Publications  of  the  Narra- 
gansett  Club,  v,  47. 

"See  facsimile  of  Compact,  which  forms  the  frontispiece  of  Volume  II 
of  The  Early  Records  of  the  Town  of  Providence. 


10  Roger  Williams 

Williams, formerly  inhabetant  of  Providence."  There  is, 
therefore,  no  discrepancy  found  between  these  records 
and  Williams'  statement  concerning  his  brother  Robert, 
a  schoolmaster  at  Newport. 

In  concluding  the  narrative  of  this  remarkable  contro- 
versy concerning  the  parentage  of  Roger  Williams,  it  is 
interesting  to  note  that  Dr.  Guild  himself  has  furnished 
one  of  the  strongest  points  of  evidence  for  the  upholding 
of  the  case  of  his  antagonist.  He  calls  attention  to  the 
fact  that,  in  his  George  Fox  Digg'd  out  of  his  Burrowes, 
Roger  Williams  says: 

"Myself  have  seen  the  Old  Testament  of  the  Jews,  most  curious 
writing,  whose  price  (in  the  way  of  trade)  was  three  score  pounds, 
which  my  brother,  a  Turkey  merchant,  had  and  shewed  me." 

Had  Roger  Williams  of  St.  Sepulchre's  a  brother  who 
was  a  Turkey  merchant?  Surely  Robert  Williams  was 
not  in  trade  with  the  Orient,  for  he  was  a  schoolmaster  at 
Newport.  Sydrach  Williams,  as  well  as  his  father,  James, 
was  a  member  of  the  Merchant  Taylors'  Company  of  Lon- 
don. At  the  request  of  the  former  librarian  of  the  New 
England  Historic-Genealogical  Society,  the  late  Mr.  John 
Ward  Dean,  the  officers  of  the  Merchant  Taylors'  Com- 
pany, in  1889,  made  a  thorough  search  of  the  records,  for 
evidence  that  Sydrach  Williams  was  engaged  in  the  Orien- 
tal trade.  This  search  was  rewarded;  in  August,  1889, 
the  reply  was  returned  that  Sydrach  Williams  was  a  mer- 
chant to  Turkey,  for  "on  March  6,  1626  he  took  as  an  ap- 
prentice one  Robert  Williams,  (son  of  Jacobi  Williams, 
citizen  and  merchant  taylor)  and  he  is  described  on  the 
apprentice  book,  vol.  IX,  p.  233,  as  a  merchant  to  Turkey 
and  Italy."1    Thus  the  evidence  is  cumulative,  that  the 


irThe  quotation  is  from  an  unpublished  letter  of  the  secretary  of  the 
Merchant  Tailors'  Company  to  Mr.  Dean. 


A  Political  Pioneer  11 

mystery  which  so  long  surrounded  the  parentage  of  Roger 
Williams  has,  at  last,  been  fully  solved  and  historian  and 
biographer  of  the  present  day  are  fully  justified  in  writing 
him  as  the  son  of  James  Williams  of  London,  and  of  Alice 
his  wife. 

Concerning  the  date  of  the  birth  of  Roger  Williams 
the  most  recent  and  most  convincing  discussion  is  by 
Mr.  Almon  D.  Hodges,  jr.1  In  a  careful  and  exhaust- 
ive manner  Mr.  Hodges  has  examined  all  of  the  records 
bearing,  in  any  manner,  upon  this  point,  and  in  his  con- 
clusions has  brought  this  question  as  near  to  a  settlement 
as  is  possible  with  the  data  yet  discovered.  Quoting  a 
record  found  among  the  archives  of  the  Rhode  Island 
Historical  Society,  in  which  Williams,  under  date  of  July 
24,  1679  writes  himself  as  "  being  now  neere  to  foure  score 
years  of  age,"  he  compares  this  with  his  statement  con- 
cerning his  age,  in  a  letter  addressed  to  John  Winthrop  in 
1632.2  In  this  letter  he  describes  himself  as  "neerer  up- 
wards of  30  then  25. "  This  somewhat  obscure  expression 
Mr.  Hodges  interprets  as  meaning  that  his  age  was,  at 
the  time  of  writing,  nearer  to  30  than  to  25,  "or  that  he 
was  over  27 £  years  old,  and  hence  bora  not  later  than 
April,  1605." 

In  a  still  closer  reasoning,  and  a  comparison  of  the 
records  concerning  his  education,  Mr.  Hodges  finds  it 
probable  that  the  exact  date  was  even  earlier  than  this, 
and  that  he  was  born  in,  or  very  near  to,  the  year  1604. 
The  reasoning  is  lucid;  and  it  is  not  impossible  that  we 
of  to-day,  accepting  this  computation  as  accurate,  know 
the  date  of  the  birth  of  Roger  Williams  quite  as  accurately 
as  he  did  himself.     Not  only  are  both  of  these  references 


*NJB.  Historical  <fc  Genealogical  Register,  January,  1899.  p.60  et  eeq. 
'Infra,  p.41 


12  Roger  Williams 

to  his  age,  made  by  Williams,  devoid  of  accuracy  and  ob- 
scure in  expression,  but  the  record  of  the  births  of  the 
six  children  of  Williams  are  equally  inexact.  These 
records,  being  found  together  upon  one  page  of  the 
earliest  book  of  Providence  records  extant,  were  prob- 
ably made  by  the  town  clerk  all  at  one  time  and,  no 
doubt,  from  information  furnished  by  Williams.  In  the 
original  book  these  records  are  written  upon  a  page  di- 
rectly following  the  record  of  an  instrument,  which  bears 
date  of  October  12,  1663.  They  could  not  have  been 
made,  therefore,  earlier  than  that  date.  Since  the  birth 
of  the  youngest  of  the  Williams  children  is  recorded  as 
having  occured  in  1643,  it  is  evident  that  these  birth  rec- 
ords were  not  written  until  the  youngest  child  was  twen- 
ty years  of  age;  and  the  oldest,  born  in  1663,  was  fully 
thirty  years  old,  when  the  record  was  made.  It  is  notice- 
able that  the  date  of  the  birth  of  none  of  these  six  children 
is  recorded  with  exactness.1  It  is  perhaps  not  unfair  to 
argue  that  Roger  Williams  had  so  little  regard  for  gen- 
ealogical exactness  that  when  he  caused  the  date  of 
the  births  of  his  children  to  be  entered  in  the  public  rec- 
ords, he  found  himself  unable  to  give  the  necessary  in- 
formation with  accuracy.  With  this  thought  in  mind, 
it  does  not  seem  a  violent  assumption,  that  the  vagueness 
of  Williams'  own  records  regarding  his  age  was  occa- 
sioned chiefly  by  his  own  ignorance  of  the  exact  date  of 
his  birth. 

Of  his  education  the  record  is  meagre.  Upon  the  back 
of  one  of  a  series  of  letters,2  written  by  Roger  Williams 
to  Mrs.  Anne  Sadlier,  the  daughter  of  Sir  Edward  Coke, 


lInfra,  p. 

2Infra,  p.      et  seq. 


A  Political  Pioneer  13 

in  1652,  is  found  a  memorandum  written  by  her  hand. 
It  is  worthy  of  quotation  here: — 

*This  Roger  Williams,  when  he  was  a  youth,  would,  in  a  short- 
hand, take  sermons  and  speeches  in  the  Star  Chamber  and  pre- 
sent them  to  my  dear  father.  He  seeing  so  hopeful  a  youth, 
took  such  a  liking  to  him  that  he  sent  him  to  Sutton's  Hospital, 
and  he  was  the  second  that  was  placed  there;  full  little  did  he 
think  that  he  would  have  proved  such  a  rebel  to  God,  the  King 
and  his  country;  I  leave  his  letters  that,  if  ever  he  has  the  face 
to  return  into  his  native  country,  Tyburn  may  give  him  wel- 
come." 

The  records  of  the  Charter  House,  London,  of  which 
the  school  known  as  Sutton's  Hospital  forms  a  part,  con- 
firm this  fugitive  record  and  we  find  that  Roger  Williams 
was  admitted  a  pensioner  in  that  institution,  June  25, 1621, 
and  that  he  obtained  an  exhibition,  July  9,  1624.  There 
has  been  some  variation  of  statement,  regarding  the  place 
of  his  higher  education.  He  has  been  said  to  have  been 
identical  with  a  student  matriculated  at  Jesus  College, 
Oxford,  April  30,  1624,  under  the  name  of  Rodericus 
Williams.  It  seems  probable  that  this  identification  was 
made  for  want  of  a  better,  at  that  time;  for,  surely,  the 
Latinized  form  of  the  name  Roger  is  not  Rodericus,  but 
Rogerus.  Indeed,  in  a  volume  of  the  alumni  of  Oxford, 
printed  in  English,  this  student's  name  appears  as  Rod- 
erick. More  recent  and  careful  researches  have  estab- 
lished, beyond  a  reasonable  doubt,  that  he  was  matricu- 
lated at  Pembroke  College,  Cambridge,  as  a  pensioner, 
June  29,  1623,  and  that  he  was  graduated  with  the  de- 
gree of  Bachelor  of  Arts  in  1626-7.  For  the  establish- 
ment of  this  important  fact  credit  must  again  be  given  to 
the  late  Mr.  John  Ward  Dean.  Replying  to  a  letter 
addressed    by    him    to    the    Rev.  C.  E.  Searle,    D.  D., 


14  Roger  Williams 

Master  of  Pembroke  College,  Cambridge,  that  gentleman 
wrote   thus : — 

"After  a  long  delay,  for  which  I  must  apologize,  though  I  had 
good  reasons  for  it,  I  have  inspected  the  signatures  of  the  stu- 
dents who  obtained  the  B.  A.  degree  from  Pembroke,  in  1626- 
1627,  by  the  kind  permission  of  Dr.  Luard,  the  university  regis- 
trary.  I  compared  Roger  Williams'  signature  with  the  tracing 
you  sent  me  of  some  undoubted  writing  of  Roger  Williams,  the 
founder  of  Rhode  Island,  and  there  is  no  doubt  a  striking  resem- 
blance between  this  man's  and  the  Pembroke  bachelor's.  The 
Registrary  afterwards  sent  me  three  tracings  of  the  name,  as  it 
stands  in  the  register  of  the  University;  the  first  was  done  by 
Dr.  Luard,  himself,  the  other  two  by  his  clerk,  and  so  you  can 
judge  of  the  resemblance  yourself. 
Pembroke  College  Lodge, 
Cambridge,  April  1,  1890." 

A  comparison  of  the  tracings  of  the  signature  of  Roger 
Williams,  as  it  appears  upon  the  books  of  Pembroke 
College,  sent  by  Master  Searle,  with  the  signature  of  the 
founder  of  Providence,  as  it  appears  upon  a  lithographed 
facsimile  of  the  "  Compact  of  the  Twenty-five  Purchasers, " 
shows  a  striking  similarity,  although  the  space  of  twenty- 
one  years  intervened  between  the  execution  of  the  two 
signatures. 

This  similarity  of  handwriting,  and  the  coincidence  of 
the  dates,  taken  in  conjunction  with  the  fact  that  Pem- 
broke was  the  alma  mater  of  his  patron,  Sir  Edward 
Coke,  lead  one  irresistibly  to  the  conclusion  that  at  Pem- 
broke College,  Cambridge,  Roger  Williams  completed 
his  education  and  received  his  bachelor's  degree.  It  is, 
without  doubt,  true  that  after  graduation  he  prepared 
himself,  at  once,  for  the  church  and  was  admitted  to  holy 
prders  about  the  year  1628.    Two  letters  originally  the 


a 


3 


OS     V 

O 

■ 

X 


A  Political  Pioneer  15 

property  of  the  family  of  George  Alan  Lowndes,  Esquire, 
of  Barrington  Hall,  Hatfield,  Broad  Oak,  England,  and 
now  in  the  British  Museum,  are  full  of  interest,  at  this 
point  in  the  narrative.  The  first  of  these  is  undated. 
The  second,  written,  beyond  doubt,  soon  after  the  first, 
bears  date  of  May  2,  1629.1  In  transmitting  copies  of 
these  letters  to  the  New  England  Historic-Genealogical 
Society,  Mr.  Lowndes  says: — 

"  I  have  had  great  pleasure  in  complying  with  your  re- 
quest. I  have  compared  the  writing  of  Roger  Williams 
with  the  copy  you  sent,  and  also  shown  them  to  an  ex- 
pert, who  agrees  with  me  that  they  are  identical. 

"  I  enclose  you  copies  of  the  letters.  Mr.  Williams  at 
the  time  of  writing  them  was  chaplain  to  Sir  William 
Masham,  of  Otes,  in  the  parish  of  High  Laver,  Essex, 
(where  the  second  letter  is  dated  from).  Sir  William 
was  the  ancestor  of  Mrs.  Masham 's  husband,  who  played 
such  a  prominent  part  in  the  reign  of  our  Queen  Anne. 
Locke,  the  philosopher,  died  at  Otes,  and  is  buried  in 
High  Laver  churchyard.  I  think  it  very  doubtful  whether 
Williams  ever  held  church  preferment  in  this  country 
(although  he  mentions  in  his  letter  to  Lady  Barrington 
that  he  had  had  the  offer  of  two  livings).  Probably  his 
disappointment  in  love  was  one  of  the  causes  of  his 
emigration. 

"There  is  no  doubt  he  proposed  to  a  niece  of  Lady  Bar- 
ington,  as  suggested  by  his  first  (undated)  letter,  and 
the  refusal  brought  the  second,  which  very  much  offend- 
ed Lady  Barrington." 

The  two  letters  are  of  such  interest  as  to  give  warrant 
for  their  insertion  here: 


xNew   England   Historical   and   Genealogical  Register,   July,    1880, 
pp.  316-320. 


16  Roger  Williams 


Roger  Williams  to  Lady  Barrington. 

To  his  honourable  good  ladie  Ye  Lady  Barrington  at 
Hatfield  Prioriey  these 
Madam  : — 

Your  Laddiship  may  wonder  at  this  unwonted  absence  & 
also  aske  what  meanes  this  paper  deputie!  Give  me  leaue 
(deare  Madam)  to  say  with  David,  to  his  brothers  in  ye  field :  is 
there  not  a  cause  ?  A  just  happily  a  knowne  &  open  cause,  I 
am  sure  to  yor  Ladysh  (who  as  an  Angell  of  God  discerneth 
wisely)  a  known  &  open  cause. 

Many  &  often  speeches  haue  long  fluttered  or  floune  abroad 
concerning  your  Ladiships  neere  kinswoman  &  my  unworthy 
selfe.  What  little  care  I  haue  given  that  may  (further  than  I 
haue  harkened  after  your  Ladiship's  mind)  all  that  know  me 
here  doe  know.  Yet  like  a  rowling  snow-ball  or  some  flouing 
streame  ye  report  extends  &  gathers  stronger  &  stronger  which 
causes  me  this  day  to  stand  behind  the  Hangings  &  will  not  be 
seen  any  way  countenancing  so  great  a  busines  wch  happily 
may  want  strength  to  bring  it  forth  to  see  the  light.  It  is  ye 
command  of  ye  God  of  wisdome  by  yt  wise  King  Salomon  Es- 
tablish thy  thoughts  by  councell.  I  presume  therefore  to  con- 
sult (as  most  of  right  I  acknowledge  I  ought)  with  ye  soonest 
with  yr  Ladiship,  especially  considering  her  loving  &  strong 
affection  together  with  ye  report  as  story  abroad. 

Good  Madame  may  it  please  you  then  to  take  notice.  I 
acknowledge  my  selfe  altogeather  unworthy  &  unmeete  for 
f  such  a  proposition.  The  neerenes  of  her  blood  to  yr  Ladiship  & 
i  godly  flourishing  branches  hath  forc't  me  to  confesse  her  Por- 
tion, in  yt  regard,  to  be  beyond  compare  invaluable.  Yet  many 
feares  have  much  possest  me  Longe  I  have  to  discover  yt  sin- 
ceritie  &  Godlines  which  makes  ye  Lord  himself  to  like  his 
Creature  &  must  make  me  if  ever  I  have  receiued  some  good 
Testimonials  from  mine  own  experience  more  from  others  not 
the  least  from  yor  good  Ladiships  selfe.  Objections  have  come 
in  about  her  spirit,  much  accused  for  passionate  &  hastie,  rash 


A  Political  Pioneer  17 

&  unconstant,  other  fears  about  her  present  condition  it  being 
some  Indecorum  for  her  to  condescend  to  my  low  Ebb  there  I 
somewhat  stick:  but  were  all  this  cleared,  there  is  one  barr  not 
likely  to  be  broken  &  yt  is  the  present  Estate  of  us  both.  That 
portion  it  hath  pleased  God  to  allot  her  (as  I  heare)  is  not  for 
present  &  happily  as  things  stand  now  in  England  shall  never 
be  by  us  enjoyed.  For  my  own  part  It  is  well  knoune  (though  I 
would  gladly  conseal  myselfe)  Now  a  gracious  God  &  tender 
conscience  (as  Balak  said  to  Balaam)  hath  kept  me  back  from 
honour  and  preferment  Besides  many  former  offers  &  yt  late 
New  England  call,  I  have  since  had  2  severall  livings  proferred 
to  me  each  of  them  IOOjG  per  annum;  but  as  things  yet  stand 
among  us  I  see  not  how  any  meanes  &  I  shall  meet  yt  way. 
Nor  doe  I  seeke  nor  shall  I  be  draune  on  any  tearmes  to  part 
(even  to  my  last  parting)  from  Otes  so  long  as  any  competencie 
can  be  raised  or  libertie  affoorded.  I  shall  impart  the  utmost 
to  your  Ladiship  (more  punctually  than  ever  yet  to  any) :  beside 
this  meanes  I  now  from  hence  enjoy  little  there  is  yet  I  can  call 
mine.  After  the  death  of  an  aged  loving  mother  amongst  some 
other  Children  I  may  expect  (though  for  the  present  she  be  close 
&  will  not  promise)  some  20\£  or  20  marks  per  annum.  At 
hand  undisposed  of  I  have  some  7  score  pieces  &  a  little  (yet 
costlie)  studie  of  books.  Thus  possessing  all  things  I  have 
nothing  yet  more  than  God  owes  me,  or  than  my  blessed  Saviour 
had   himselfe. 

Poore  yet  as  I  am  I  have  some  few  offers  at  present  one 
put  into  my  hand,  person  &  present  portion  worthy.  Yet 
stand  they  still  at  dore  &  shall  until  the  fairest  end  ye  Lord 
shall  please  to  give  to  this  shall  come  to  light.  I  have  been  told 
to  open  to  your  Ladiship  the  whole  Anatomie  of  this  business. 
To  wrong  your  precious  name  and  answer  her  kind  love  with 
want  would  be  like  gall  to  all  the  honey  of  my  life,  and  man- 
my  marriage  joys.  The  kind  affection  of  your  deare  Ladiship 
&  worthy  neice  is  of  better  merit  and  desert.  I  shall  add  for 
the  present  I  know  none  in  the  world  I  more  affect  &  (had  ye 
Lord  been  pleased  to  say  amen  to  those  other  regards)  should 
doubtles  haue  answered  (if  not  exceeded)  her  affection. 


18  Roger  Williams 

But  I  have  learned  another  Lesson  to  still  my  soule  as  a  weaned 
childe  &  give  offence  to  none.  I  have  learn'd  to  keepe  my 
studie  and  pray  to  ye  God  of  heaven  (as  oft  I  doe  pray)  for  the 
everlasting  peace  and  well  fare  of  your  kind  Ladiship,  whose 
soule  &  comfort  is  in  ye  number  of  my  greatist  cares.  The 
Lord  that  hath  caried  you  from  the  wombe  to  gray  haires  crown 
those  gray  haires  by  making  your  last  dayes  (like  ye  close  of 
some  sweet  harmonie)  your  rest  fruitfull  (like  Sarah)  in  old  age: 
out  shining  all  those  starrs  yt  shine  about  you:  going  downe  in 
Peace,  rising  in  Glory  in  the  armes  of  yor  dearest  Saviour.  To 
wch  everlasting  armes  he  often  commits  your  Soule  &  yours, 
who  is 

Ye  unworthiest  (though  faithfull)  of  all  yt  truely  serve  & 
honour  you, 

Roger  Williams. 


II 


Roger  Williams  to  Lady  Barrington. 

To  his  honorable  good 

Lady  ye  Lady  Barrington 
at  Hatfield 

these 

Madame:—  Otes    May  2d    1629 

I  am  forc't  (with  ye  Seaman)  for  want  of  a  full  gale  to  make 
use  of  a  side  wind  &  salute  your  Ladiship  by  another,  being 
for  a  time  shut  out  myselfe  I  doubt  not  but  your  good  wisdome 
&  loue  haue  fairely  interpreted  my  carriage  in  ye  late  treatie, 
&  I  allso  trust,  quieted  &  still'  d  the  loving  affections  of  your 
worthy  neice.  We  hope  to  live  together  in  the  heavens  though 
ye  Lord  have  denied  that  union  on  Earth.  Dear  Madame. 
Let  me  beg  your  christian  Pardon  if  I  shall  acquaint  your  Ladi- 
ship with  a  busines  of  more  waight  &  consequence  &  much 
neerer  concerning  yourselfe.  I  beseech  you  to  reade  no  further 
before  you  resolve  to  pardon  &  take  with  the  right  hand  of  love, 
from  the  Lord  himselfe,  a  message  sent  by  me,  his  unworthy 


A  Political  Pioneer  19 

Servant.  A  better  hand  might  pen  it,  A  better  heart  more 
tender  of  your  peace  &  everlasting  good,  none  yt  know  you  (if 
I  can)  shall  carrie  toward  you. 

What  I  shall  now  expresse  to  your  Ladiship  hath  long  lyen 
like  fire  in  my  bones  Jer  20:9.  I  said  I  should  not  make  mention 
of  his  name  in  this  kind  to  you  but  his  word  was  in  my  heart  as 
A  burning  fire  shut  up  in  my  bones  &  I  was  weary  with  for- 
bearing &  I  could  not  stay. 

Good  Madam  it  is  not  for  nothing,  yt  ye  God  of  Heaven  hath 
sent  such  thunderclaps  of  late  and  made  such  great  offers  at 
the  dore  of  your  Ladiships  heart.  Distractions  about  children 
&  their  afflictions;  deprivall  of  a  deare  and  tender  yoake  fellow 
weaknesses  of  the  outward  &  troubles  in  the  inward  man,  what 
are  they  but  loud  alarums  to  awake  you  ? 

The  father  of  lights  be  pleased  to  show  you  the  interpretations 
of  these  dreams,  certainly  (Madam)  ye  Lord  hath  a  quarrell 
against  you.  Woe  unto  me  if  I  hold  my  peace  &  hide  yt  from 
you,  which  may  seem  bitter  at  present,  it  may  be  sweeter  than 
hony  at  the  latter  end.  Incouragement  to  be  naked  &  plaine 
your  Ladiship  was  pleased  to  give  me  at  Otes.  If  ever  (deare 
Madame)  when  there  is  but  the  breadth  of  a  few  gray  haires 
betwene  you  &  your  everlasting  home  let  me  deale  uprightly 
with  you. 

I  know  not  one  professor  amongst  all  I  know  whose  truth  and 
faythfullness  to  Jesus  Christ  is  more  suspected,  doubted,  feared, 
by  all  or  most  of  those  yt  knew  the  Lord. 

Woe  is  me  if  I  shall  conceal  what  great  thoughts  of  heart  the 
Lord  suffers  yet  to  be  &  breake  forth  in  his  dearest  Saincts  about 
you.  And  yet  no  hand  in  this  is  with  me,  The  God  of  Heaven 
&  your  deare  Selfe  only  know  thoses  secret  lines.  It  hath  almost 
astonisht  me  ( &  I  trust  will  deeply  affect  your  Ladiship)  yt  not 
only  inferiour  Christians  but  ministers,  eagle  eyed,  faithful  & 
observant  to  vour  Ladiship;  after  so  many  yeares  of  God's  pa- 
tience towards  you  so  long  profession,  such  helpes,  meanes  in- 
comparable should  yet  be  driuen  to  sigh,  to  say  little,  to  sus- 
pend their  judgments,  to  hope  but  feare  &  doubt. 

I  know  (deare  Madam)  your  heart  is  full  at  these  relations  I 


20  Roger  Williams 

beseech  you  (as  David  said)  on  me  let  your  thoughts  &  the 
burthen  fall,  but  have  these  sheepe  done?  when  2  or  3  or  few 
are  excepted :  yt  names  of  so  great  a  number  may  well  be  spared. 

Three  things  especially  have  I  often  gathered  from  them. 
First,  feares  are  yt  the  world  hath  choakt  those  blessed  Seeds 
yt  have  been  soune  &  keepes  the  fruite  from  true  perfection. 
2ndly  a  strangenes  from  the  faithfull  in  spirituall  socitie:  This 
is  the  fayrest  evidence  of  Adoption.  If  this  Pin  breakes  all 
falls.  &  3d  a  stand  or  stay  in  the  wayes  of  holynes  young  plants 
of  yesterday  giving  fairer  testimonies  of  greater  fruitfulnes. 

Deare  Madame  I  beseech  you  by  all  those  multitudes  of 
tender  motherly  mercies  yt  are  in  God  &  exprest  to  you:  by  yt 
inconceavable  patience  of  the  Lord  toward  you:  by  ye  bo  wells 
and  blood  of  ye  Lord  Jesus  by  all  thoses  sweet  cords  of  love, 
whereby  the  blessed  Spirit  of  God  hath  striven  you  to  make  a 
stand  and  spread  my  letter  (as  Hezekiah)  before  ye  Lord  in  secret. 

If  ever  (good  Madame)  cry  hard  &  ye  Lord  help  me  to  cry 
for  you.  Let  those  2  peticions  Psal.  51.  11  &  71.9  be  cleare  to 
you.  Rememb:  I  beseech  you  Revel  2.2.3  ye  Church  of  Ephesus 
was  much  esteemed  by  God,  for  her  works,  her  labour,  her 
patience  her  not  bearing  with  those  yt  were  Evill,  for  yt  she  had 
borne,  &  for  his  sake  laboured,  and  not  fainted  &  yet  angry 
was  he  &  he  had  something  against  her:  &  it  was  because  she 
had  left  her  first  love.  The  Lord  established  my  hope  for  I 
hope  it  may  be  but  so  with  your  Ladiship  only  I  beseech  you 
to  lay  to  heart  these  few  considerations. 

1.  First  Job  34.9  (Qu.  19  ?).  He  with  whome  we  deale  excep- 
teth  not  the  persons  of  princes  nor  regardeth  the  rich  more  than 
the  poore  for  they  are  all  the  worcke  of  his  hands. 

2.  When  birth  greater,  maintenance,  more  ample  time  longer 
and  means  of  grace  more  plentifull,  then  a  great  account  of  the 
Lord  is  expected.     Luc.  12. 

3.  The  Lord  will  doe  what  he  will  with  his  owne.  He  owes 
you  no  mercy. 

Exod  33.19.  I  will  be  gracious  to  whom  I  will  be  gracious 
&  I  will  shew  mercy  to  whom  I  will  show  mercy. 

4.  Call  to  mind  what  a  cutt,  what  a  gnawing  worme  it  will  be 


A  Political  Pioneer  21 

(ye  Lord  forbid  it)  if  ever  you  cast  your  eye  up  toward  heaven, 
&  see  so  many  branches  in  the  bosom e  of  Christ  &  yr  stock 
rejected. 

5.  Slight  not  I  beseech  you  all  these  late  loud  alarums  & 
sharp  files  with  which  ye  Lord  hath  striven  to  burnish  you 
Ezech  24. 

6.  Remember  I  beseech  you  your  candle  is  twinkling  & 
glasse  neare  run  ye  Lord  only  knows  how  few  minutes  are  left 
behind.  Psal  95.  10.  Four  tie  years  was  I  grieved,  then  I 
swore  in  my  wrath  they  should  never  enter  into  my  rest.  No 
heart  but  a  trembling  heart  can  get  assurance  ye  Lord  hath  not 
sworne:  to  yt  heart  he  hath  sworne  to  be  gracious.  In  yt  Peti- 
tion my  soule  follows  hard  after  him  &  still  will  I  wrastle  untill 
you  say  a  blessing  is  come,  a  blessing  of  a  heart  softened  & 
trembling  of  a  Soule  gasping  after  Jesus  Christ.  A  blessing 
of  Joye  refreshing  to  the  faithfull  &  to  him  who  is  ever. 

Your  Ladiships  most  faythfull  and 
truly  ob  servant 

Roger  Williams 

From  this  correspondence,  the  authorship  of  which  no 
one  familiar  with  the  writings  of  Williams  will  question, 
is  drawn  corroborative  evidence  of  the  identity  of  the  Roger 
Williams  of  history  with  Roger,  the  son  of  James.  The 
attentive  reader  will  note  the  allusion  of  the  writer  of  these 
letters,  to  his  aged  mother,  then  living,  and  will  compare 
their  date  with  that  of  her  death,  already  noted;  and  he 
will  note  also  that  the  inheritance  of  Roger,  the  son  of 
James,  by  his  mother's  will  did  not  vary  greatly  in  amount 
from  the  sum  of  his  expectations  as  stated  in  the  first  of 
these  letters. 

But  this  corroborative  evidence  is  the  least  interesting 
of  the  information  to  be  gleaned  from  these  letters.  They 
serve  to  inform  us  concerning  the  residence  of  Williams  in 
the  year  1629,  two  years  after  his  graduation  from  Cam- 


22  Roger  Williams 

bridge.  It  was,  undoubtedly,  at  High  Laver,  Essex,  and  not 
far  removed  from  Chelmsford,  where  lived  and  preached 
the  Rev.  Thomas  Hooker,  in  later  years  the  founder  of 
the  colony  at  Hartford.  That  Williams  and  Hooker  were 
neighbors  and  friends  Williams  intimates  to  us,  when  he 
records  a  memorable  ride,  which  these  two  worthies  took, 
in  company  with  John  Cotton,  discoursing  and  arguing 
by  the  way,  concerning  the  use  of  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer.  "Possibly  Master  Cotton  may  call  to  minde," 
he  writes,  "that  the  discusser  (riding  with  himself  and  one 
other  person  of  precious  memory  (Master  Hooker)  to  and 
from  Sempringham)  presented  his  arguments  from  Scrip- 
ture, why  he  durst  not  join  with  them  in  their  use  of  Com- 
mon prayer."1 

In  this  connection  also,  as  serving  the  further  to  identify 
the  Roger  Williams  of  history,  with  the  chaplain  at  High 
Laver,  Essex,  is  a  passage  in  the  Reverend  William  Hub- 
bard's General  History  of  New  England,  wherein  the 
Ipswich  minister  says  of  Roger  Williams: 

"In  this  manner  did  overheated  zeal  vent  itself  in  the 
said  Mr.  Williams,  of  whom  they  were  wont  to  say  in  Es- 
sex, where  he  lived,  that  he  was  divinely  mad."2 

But,  more  interesting  yet  than  these  matters,  these  let- 
ters disclose  to  us  one  of  the  heretofore  hidden  chapters  in 
the  life  of  Roger  Williams.  He  was  now  twenty-seven 
years  of  age,  an  age  at  which  a  man  is  not  apt  to  make 
hasty  decisions  in  affairs  of  the  heart.  The  mother-in- 
law  of  Williams'  patron,  Lady  Joan  Barrington,  widow 
of  Sir  Francis  Barrington,  baronet,  who  had  died  a  year 

^oger  Williams'  The  Bloudy  Tenant  Yet  More  Bloudy— Publications 
of  the  Narragansett  Club,  iv,  65. 

2 A  General  History  of  New  England,  by  William  Hubbard,  minister  at 
Ipswich,  1680. 


A  Political  Pioneer  23 

before,  had,  as  a  member  of  her  household,  a  niece,  a  cer- 
tain Jane  Whalley.1  She  was  a  daughter  of  Richard 
Whalley  and  a  sister  of  Major  General  Edward  Whalley, 
in  later  years  famous  as  one  of  the  judges  who  condemned 
King  Charles  I  to  death.  Her  mother  was  Frances  Crom- 
well, a  sister  of  Lady  Barrington  and  of  Robert  Cromwell, 
the  father  of  the  Lord  Protector.  Of  her  brother  Edward, 
it  will  be  remembered  that  he  was  one  of  that  little  company 
of  regicides,  who  succeeded  in  making  their  escape  to  New 
England,  from  the  wrath  of  Charles  II,  after  the  restora- 
tion. The  story  of  Goffe,  of  his  life  in  seclusion  at  Bos- 
ton, at  New  Haven,  and,  afterwards  at  Hadley;  of  his  sud- 
den appearance,  as  of  an  angel  from  heaven,  to  lead  the 
surprised  colonists  to  victory,  against  an  attack  by  hostile 
Indians,  and  his  equally  sudden  disappearance  when 
danger  no  longer  threatened,  is  one  of  the  most  romantic 
in  the  history  of  the  early  days  of  our  country. 

It  is  not  strange  that  Roger  Williams,  occupying  as  he 
did,  an  honored  place  in  the  household  of  Sir  William 
Masham,  should  have  made  himself  familiar  in  that  of 
the  mother  of  Lady  Masham.  Neither  is  it  strange  that  he 
should  have  looked  with  pleasure  upon  the  youthful  niece 
of  that  lady,  who  made  her  home  with  her  aunt,  and  should 
have  desired  to  marry  her.  It  would  appear,  from  cer- 
tain passages  in  these  letters,  that  his  affection  for  her  was, 
in  some  degree,  reciprocated.  Certain  it  is  that  his  atten- 
tions to  Miss  Whalley  had  been  so  marked  as  to  cause 
wide-spread  comment,  so  that,  at  length,  he  was  fain  to 
absent  himself  from  Hatfield  Priory,  and  send,  in  his  stead, 
a  "paper  deputy",  in  which  he  laid  the  whole  matter  be- 
fore her  ladyship. 


lNew  England  Historical  and  Genealogical  Register,  January,  1891, 
pp.  70,  71. 


24  Roger  Williams 

That  he  was  advised  to  do  so  is  quite  certain.  He  con- 
fesses to  Lady  Barrington  his  love  for  her  niece,  and  pro- 
ceeds in  a  business-like  manner,  to  a  discussion  of  her 
qualities  and  his  own.  He  intimates  that  some  have  warned 
him  that  his  sweetheart  has  a  temper  of  her  own;  and 
he  admits  that  her  rank  in  life  is  far  above  his  own.  Their 
fortunes,  however,  he  thinks  will  compare  favorably,  for 
she  has  no  expectations,  by  reason,  perhaps,  of  the  prior 
claims  of  her  brother  Edward.  As  for  himself,  he  confess- 
es that  he  has  no  fortune,  beyond  his  modest  expectations 
from  his  mother,  a  limited  amount  of  cash  in  hand,  and  a 
small  library.  He  has,  he  declares,  declined  two  church 
livings,  each  of  which  yields  one  hundred  pounds  yearly, 
because  of  a  "tender  conscience";  and  he  assures  her  lady- 
ship that  he  is  so  entirely  suited  with  his  present  position 
that  nothing  would  induce  him  to  leave  it. 

From  the  tenor  of  the  second  letter,  it  is  evident  that  Lady 
Barrington's  reply  to  the  first  was  a  denial  of  his  suit. 
Perhaps  the  refusal  was  a  trifle  peremptory.  The  acerb- 
ity of  tone  of  Williams'  reply  would  so  indicate,  for,  in 
no  uncertain  manner,  he  predicts  for  Lady  Barrington 
an  unhappy  hereafter,   except   she  repent. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  imagine  the  anger  of  Lady  Bar- 
rington, at  the  receipt  of  this  epistle;  and  we  may  easily 
understand  that  his  usefulness  as  chaplain  to  Sir  Will- 
iam Masham  was  brought  to  a  sudden  close.  In  spite 
of  his  expressed  determination  to  remain  at  Otes,  his 
office  was,  no  doubt  declared  vacant,  and  Williams 
was  obliged  to  seek  other  means  of  livelihood.  He  had 
already,  as  indicated  in  the  first  letter,  received  a  "New 
England  call," but  to  what  church  is  unknown;  and  the 
sudden  change  in  his  fortunes,  doubtless,  led  him  to  con- 
sider seriously,  its  acceptance.  At  this  juncture  too,  he 
attracted  the  attention  of  Archbishop  Laud,  who  was 


A  Political  Pioneer  25 

ever  on  the  alert  for  active  Separatists,  and  a  prison  door 
yawned  before  him.  In  one  of  his  letters  to  Mrs.  Sad- 
lier,  before  alluded  to,  and  which  will  be  more  particu- 
larly considered  later  in  our  study, — occurs  this  passage: 

My  much  honored  friend,  that  man  of  honor  and  wisdom 
and  piety,  your  dear  father  [Sir  Edward  Coke]  was  often  pleased 
to  call  me  his  son;  and  truly  it  was  as  bitter  as  death  to  me  when 
Bishop  Laud  pursued  me  out  of  this  land,  and  my  conscience 
was  persuaded  against  the  national  church  and  ceremonies  and 
bishops,  beyond  the  conscience  of  your  dear  father.  I  say  it 
was  as  bitter  as  death  to  me,  when  I  rode  Windsorway,  to  take 
ship  at  Bristow  and  saw  Stoke  House,  where  the  blessed  man 
was,  and  I  durst  not  acquaint  him  with  my  conscience  and  my 
flight.1 

On  his  arrival  at  Boston  he  was  urged  to  supply  the 
place  of  the  Reverend  John  Wilson,  who  was  about  to 
return  to  England  for  an  extended  visit.  It  has  been  v 
supposed  that  the  congregation  of  the  First  Church  in 
Boston  took  advantage  of  what  appeared  to  be  a  special 
providence  in  his  coming,  to  supply  their  pulpit,  in  the 
absence  of  their  pastor.  From  this  passage  in  the  first 
of  these  Barrington  letters  it  would  appear  probable  that 
the  church  had  had  correspondence  with  him  in  advance 
of  his  coming,  and  that  tnis  was  the  "call"  to  which  he 
referred. 

It  was  in  May,  1629,  that  these  events,  just  narrated, 
occurred.  It  was,  then,  about  nineteen  months  later  that, 
having  made  the  decision  to  emigrate  to  New  England, 
Williams  set  sail  from  Bristol,  in  the  ship  Lyon.2    Nor  did  ^* 


lThe  Sadlier  Letters— Publications  of  the  Narragansett  Club,  vi,  239. 

2It  must  be  remembered,  that  in  the  XVIIth  century,  the  year  was 
reckoned  from  March  25  and  not  from  January  1,  as  in  these  days. 
Hence,  February,  the  month  of  Williams'  arrival,  was  the  eleventh 
month  of  the  year,  and  February,  1630,  would  be  the  twenty-first 
month  after  May,  1629.    The  voyage  was  about  two  months  in  dur- 


26  Roger  Williams 

he  go  alone.  That  he  had,  in  these  intervening  months, 
succeeded  in  banishing  from  his  mind  his  hopeless 
love  for  Jane  Whalley,  and  in  filling  her  place  in  his  affec- 
tions with  another,  is  evident  from  the  record  of  Win- 
throp,  that  his  wife  accompanied  him  upon  the  voyage. 
Who  was  this  lady  is  not  known;  and,  save  that  her  name 
was  Mary,  and  that  she  proved  to  him  a  true  and  loyal 
wife,  the  record  is  meagre.  For  many  years  her  maiden 
name  was  unknown  and  the  genealogist  was  baffled  in 
searching  for  a  clew.  In  the  issue  of  the  New  England 
Historical  Genealogical  Register  for  January,  1899,  Mr. 
Almon  D.  Hodges,  jr.,  contributes  a  valuable  discovery 
throwing  light  upon  this  point.  He  has  found  in  a  letter 
from  William  Harris  to  Capt.  Deem,  November  14,  1666,1 
a  reference  to  a  brother  of  Mrs.  Williams,  by  name  War- 
nerd,  or  Warnard.2  It  is  therefore  concluded  that  this 
was  the  maiden  name  of  the  wife  of  Williams,  but  more 
than  this  we  know  little.  We  are  sure,  however,  that 
she  was  a  woman  of  some  decision  of  character,  for,  as 
we  shall  find  later,  she,  upon  one  occasion  at  least,  re- 
fused to  allow  her  husband  to  control  her  conscience,  in 
matters  of  religious  observance;  and  was,  as  a  result,  ex- 
cluded from  participation  in  the  religious  services  which 
he  set  up  in  his  own  house. 

It  is  of  interest  to  follow,  for  a  time,  the  fortunes  of 
Williams'  first  love,  Jane  Whalley.  It  is  certain  that, 
although  the  addresses  of  Roger  Williams  were  rejected, — 
it  is  to  be  presumed  on  account  of  his  poverty, — the  young 


ation,  as  already  stated,  so  that  he  set  sail  in  the  nineteenth  month 
after  his  quarrel  with  Lady  Barrington. 

Tublished  in  a  pamphlet  entitled  Some  William  Harris  Memoranda, 
Providence,  1876. 

2Both  forms  of  spelling  are  found  in  the  letter. 


A  Political  Pioneer  27 

lady  became,  afterwards,  the  wife  of  a  Puritan  clergy- 
man, the  Reverend  William  Hooke,  a  graduate  of  Oxford 
University.  He  was  vicar  of  Axmouth,  in  Devonshire, 
but,  eight  years  after  the  emigration  of  Williams,  he  too 
came  with  his  wife,  to  New  England,  and  became  a  pas- 
tor at  Taunton,  Massachusetts.  From  1644  to  1656  he 
was  settled  at  New  Haven,  Connecticut.  Later,  he  re- 
turned to  England  and  became  the  private  chaplain  of 
his  wife's  cousin-german,  Oliver  Cromwell,  Lord  Pro- 
tector of  England. 


CHAPTER  II 

In  February  of  1630,  then,  we  find  the  Reverend  Roger 
Williams  entering  upon  a  new  life.  He  had  reached  New 
England,  after  a  tempestuous  voyage,  in  midwinter.  It 
would  appear,  as  discussed  in  the  last  chapter,  that  hj  had 
not  come  wholly  as  an  adventurer,  seeking  new  lands  and 
new  scenes.  In  addition  to  the  already  quoted  passage  in 
the  first  letter  to  Lady  Barrington,  we  know  from  the  writ- 
ings of  Williams,  years  after,  that  he  was  called  to  be  the 
teacher  at  the  First  Church  in  Boston,  but  that  he  declined, 
as  he  himself  said,  in  a  letter  written  to  John  Cotton,  the 
younger,  under  date  of  March  25,  1671.  "Being  unani- 
mously chosen  teacher  at  Boston,"  he  wrote,  "(before 
your  dear  father  came,  divers  years,)  I  conscientiously  re- 
fused, and  withdrew  to  Plymouth,  because  I  durst  not 
officiate  to  an  unseparated  people,  as  upon  examination 
and  conference  I  found  them  to  be."1 

In  this  we  find  renewed  indication  that  Roger  Williams 
was  imbued  with  the  tenets  of  the  Separatists,  or  "Brown- 
ists."  His  advent  among  the  colonists  at  Boston  was  hailed 
with  pleasure.  Their  pastor,  the  Reverend  John  Wilson 
was  about  to  sail  for  England,  for  a  visit  of  some  months 
duration,  and,  indeed,  he  did  actually  sail  upon  the  home- 
ward voyage  of  the  same  ship  which  had  brought  Mr.  Will- 
iams. The  latter  was  at  once  recognized  as  the  natural 
substitute  for  the  furloughed  pastor;  but  a  cloud  intervened. 

It  does  not  yet  appear  by  what  means,  and  in  what  man- 
ner Roger  Williams  became  associated  with  the  Separa- 


1  Publications  of  the  NarragaDsett  Club,  vi,  356. 


A  Political  Pioneer  29 

tists  and  imbued  with  their  doctrines.  That  his  inclina- 
tions were  towards  Puritanism  is  readily  accounted  for  in 
his  education  at  Cambridge — the  Puritan  tendencies  of 
which  were  well  known — and  in  his  residence  in  a  section 
of  the  country  thoroughly  imbued  with  that  sentiment. 
But  that  he  had  adopted  the  extreme  views  of  the  Separa- 
tists, and  that  he  maintained  them  in  America,  almost  to 
the  colony's  undoing,  is  undoubtedly  true. 

With  this  movement  for  Separation  the  colonists  at  Sa-  ^ 
lem,  led  by  Endecott,  and  at  Boston  under  the  government 
of  Winthrop,  had  little  sympathy.  They  had  not  been  re- 
quired to  steal  away  from  their  country  by  night,  as  had 
the  men  and  women  of  Scrooby,  a  few  years  before.  They 
had  gone  forth  openly,  bearing  the  king's  charter,  and  with 
the  avowed  purpose  of  founding  a  colony  upon  the  Ameri- 
can coast.  They  were  of  the  Puritan  wing;  yet  it  seems  re- 
markable, and  a  matter  not  easy  of  explanation,  that  Roger 
Williams  had  not,  before  setting  out  for  America,  been 
made  aware  of  the  broad  religious  distinction  between  the 
colonists  of  the  Bay  and  their  brethren  at  Plymouth.  That 
he  was  not  aware,  until  he  reached  Boston,  of  the  fact  that 
the  colonists  there  were  not  Separatists,  is  made  positive 
by  the  passage  from  Williams'  letter  to  John  Cotton  the 
younger,  already  quoted.  Having  made  this  discovery, 
he  not  only  refused,  peremptorily,  to  exercise  his  gifts 
as  a  religious  teacher  in  the  colony,  but  he  disclosed  a  dis- 
putatious spirit,  an  intimation  of  which  we  have  already 
received  in  his  letter  to  Lady  Barrington,  after  that  lady's 
rejection  of  his  suit  for  the  hand  of  her  niece.  Williams 
was  now  scarcely  thirty  years  of  age,  while  Winthrop,  the 
governor  of  the  Colony,  was  more  than  a  dozen  years  his 
senior.  In  experience,  also,  and  as  a  man  of  affairs,  Win- 
throp was,  doubtless,  far  the  superior  of  Williams.  When, 
therefore,  this  young  man  and  new-comer  among  them,  in 


30  Roger  Williams 

appearance,  perhaps,  scarcely  more  than  a  stripling,  as- 
sumed the  position  of  a  mentor,  and  severely  scored  Win- 
throp  and  his  people,  because  they  differed  with  him  in 
methods  of  polity,  it  is  little  wonder  if  he  was  regarded 
with  amazement. 
*£  Williams  demanded,  first  of  all,  that  the  members  of  the 
Boston  church  should  publicly  express  their  repentance, 
for  the  sin  of  having  communed  with  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, during  their  residence  there.  Next,  he  claimed  that 
the  magistrates  had  no  right  to  punish  infractions  of  the 
first  table  of  the  Decalogue.  Inasmuch  as  the  first  table 
was  then  understood  to  forbid  idolatry,  blasphemy  and 
Sabbath  breaking,  it  cannoUbe  wondered  that  these  opin- 
ions were  not  graciously  received.1  Indeed,  to  this  day, 
profane  swearing  and  ordinary  labor  upon  the  Lord's  Day 
are  forbidden  by  law  in  Massachusetts. 

Williams'  stay  in  Boston  was  short.  There  is  some  evi- 
dence that  he  received  an  intimation  that  his  teachings 
would  be  acceptable  to  the  church  at  Salem.  Whether, 
indeed,  he  did,  for  a  time,  serve  that  church  as  teacher,  in 
a  desultory  manner,  is  itself  quite  uncertain,  although  it  is 
not  improbable  that  he  did  so. 

"Unfortunately,  however,  the  first  book  of  records  of  the  First 
Church  in  Salem  is  not  in  existence.  When  John  Higginson 
became  the  minister,  in  1660,  a  committee  was  chosen  to  revise 
the  record-book  of  the  church,  which,  it  was  asserted,  was  old, 
worn,  and,  moreover,  contained  much  matter  whose  preserva- 
tion was  scarcely  to  be  desired.  The  committee  was  to  make 
copies  of  such  parts  as  needed  to  be  preserved,  after  which  the 
old  book  was  to  be  put  away  from  common  use,  and  possibly 
the  design  was  to  put  it  beyond  all  future  use.  At  any  rate  it 
disappeared  and  its  fate  is  not  known.  What  was  supposed  to 
be  of  permanent  value  was  copied  into  a  new  book  of  records 


xMather's  Magnolia  Christi  Americana,  Hartford  Ed.  1883,  ii,  495. 


A  Political  Pioneer  31 

then  begun.  The  probability  is  that  just  what  made  the  minister 
and  members  of  1660  desirous  to  have  the  old  book  suppressed 
as  discreditable  was,  in  large  part,  the  Roger  Williams  contro- 
versy."1 

It  is  certain,  then,  that  the  records  of  the  church  at 
Salem,  to-day,  contain  little  or  no  allusion  to  Williams. 
That  it  was  proposed  to  employ  Williams  as  a  teacher  in 
Salem,  almost  immediately  after  his  attack  upon  the  Bos- 
ton church  is  made  certain  from  a  record  made  by  Gov- 
ernor Winthrop  on  the  twelfth  of  April,  1631.2 

At  a  court  holden  at  Boston  (upon  information  to  the  Gover- 
nour  that  they  of  Salem  had  called  Mr.  Williams  to  the  office  of 
teacher)  a  letter  was  written  from  the  court  to  Mr.  Ende- 
cott  to  this  effect,  that  whereas  Mr.  Williams  had  refused  to 
join  with  the  congregation  at  Boston,  because  they  would  not 
make  a  public  declaration  of  their  repentance  for  having  com- 
munion with  the  churches  of  England  while  they  lived  there; 
and  besides  had  declared  his  opinion  that  the  magistrates  might 
not  punish  the  breach  of  the  Sabbath,  nor  any  other  offence, 
as  it  was  a  breach  of  the  first  table,  therefore  they  marvelled 
they  would  choose  him  without  advising  with  the  council;  and 
withal  desiring  him  that  they  would  forbear  to  proceed  till  they 
had   conferred   about   it. 

We  find,  then,  that,  within  two  months  after  his  arrival 
in  New  England,  Roger  Williams  had  already  met  with 
disaster  in  his  relations  with  the  colonists  at  Boston,  and 
had  received  a  call  from  the  church  at  Salem,  to  the  of- 
fice of  teacher.  The  Reverend  Samuel  Skelton,  at  that 
time  the  pastor  of  the  church  at  Salem,  was  in  declining 
health.     The  position  of  teacher  did  not,  probably  carry 


'The  quotation  is  from  a  letter  addressed  to  the  author,  by  the  Rev. 
E.  B.  Willson,  minister  of  the  First  Church  in  Salem,  and  President  of 
the  Essex  Institute,  dated  August  2,  1894. 

'Winthrop's  History  of  New  England,  i,  63. 


X 


32  Roger  Williams 

with  it  the  duties  and  dignities  of  a  full  pastorate,  save 
in  the  absence  of  the  pastor.  Yet  it  was  a  position  of 
great  importance  and  honor  in  the  Colony,  and  very  near- 
ly corresponded  to  that  of  assistant  pastor.  It  is  not  im- 
possible that  the  call  from  the  Salem  church  may  have 
been  extended  to  him  while  he  was  yet  in  England,  and 
that  this  was  the  "New  England  call"  to  which  he  alludes 
in  his  letter  to  Lady  Barrington.  This,  however,  seems 
scarcely  probable,  from  the  fact  that  he,  upon  his  arrival 
at  Boston,  appears  to  have  entertained  the  proposition 
to  serve  the  church  in  that  town,  until  he  discovered  that 
he  could  not  agree  with  them  in  points  of  doctrine.  But, 
in  view  of  the  loss  of  the  early  records  of  the  Salem  church, 
this  must  remain  a  conjecture.  Hubbard,  in  his  allu- 
sions to  Williams,  records  that  "immediately  after  his 
arrival  he  was  called  by  the  church  at  Salem  to  join  with 
Mr.  Skelton;"1  but  Williams  himself,  in  his  letter  to  the 
younger  Cotton,  already  alluded  to,  makes  no  mention 
of  the  Salem  call,  but  says  that,  being  unable  to  agree 
with  the  brethren  at  Boston,  he  "withdrew  and  went  to 
Plymouth." 

At  first  thought  it  may  not  be  apparent  why  Mr.  Will- 
iams is  not  recorded  as  unwilling  to  minister  to  the  people, 
as  well  of  Salem  as  of  Boston.  But  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  the  non-conformity  of  the  Puritan  settlers  dif- 
fered in  degree.  The  ministers  of  the  early  colonists 
were  all  clergymen  of  the  Church  of  England,  as,  indeed, 
was  Roger  Williams  himself,  as  we  have  already  learned. 
The  churches  of  Salem  and  Dorchester  were  peculiar,  in 
that  they  disregarded  an  Episcopal  ordination  as  a  quali- 
fication for  the  pastoral  office,  among  themselves,  and, 
adopting  the  Congregational  mode,  required  a  new-  or- 


^ubbard,  ii,  203. 


A  Political  Pioneer  >M 

dination.  The  ordinations  of  Samuel  Skelton  and  Fran- 
cis Higginson  were  performed  by  committees  chosen  by 
the  congregation,  thus  ignoring  their  Episcopal  ordina- 
tion. At  Salem  an  incident  occurred,  which  shows  the 
intensity  of  the  Separatist  feeling.  Two  brothers,  John 
and  Samuel  Browne,  did  not  approve  of  this  action  to- 
wards the  English  church,  and,  with  a  few  others,  who 
were  like-minded,  preferred  to  worship  by  themselves, 
making  use  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer.  There  was 
no  charge  against  these  two  men,  that  they  were  not  good 
neighbors  and  otherwise  excellent  citizens;  but  their 
conduct  in  this  matter  was  regarded  as  subversive  of  good 
order,  and  they  were  sent  back  to  England. 

When,  on  the  other  hand,  John  Wilson  was  chosen 
pastor  of  the  church  at  Charlestown, — afterwards  at  Bos- 
ton,— although  he  was  installed  in  his  office  by  the  im- 
position of  hands,  this  ceremony  was  held,  as  Winthrop 
is  careful  to  explain,  "with  this  protestation  by  all,  that 
it  was  only  a  sign  of  election  and  confirmation,  not  of  any 
intent  that  Mr.  Wilson  should  renounce  his  ministry  he 
received  in  England."1  When  we  add  to  these  circum- 
stances the  fact  that  the  organizers  of  the  church  at  Sa- 
lem sought  counsel  of  their  Plymouth  brethren,  we  are 
not  at  loss  to  understand  why  Williams  looked  towards 
Salem  with  an  approving  eye,  while  he  declined  to  affil- 
iate with  the  church  at  Boston. 

The  plan  of  a  settlement  at  Salem  having  come  to 
naught  Mr.  Williams  removed  to  Plymouth,  a  colony 
then  under  a  government  of  its  own,  and  not  subject  to 
the  authorities  of  Massachusetts  Bay.  Here  he  remained 
about  the  space  of  two  years,  was  admitted  a  member 
of  the  church,  and  served  the  people  and  the  church  in 


'John  Winthrop's  History  of  New  England. 


34  Roger  Williams 

the  capacity  of  teacher,  and  as  an  assistant  to  the  pastor, 
the  Reverend  Ralph  Smith.  He  felt  no  conscientious 
scruples  against  ministering  to  these  people,  for  as  has 
already  been  said,  they  were  in  full  accord  and  sympathy 
with  the  doctrines  and  ideas  of  the  Separatists.  He  was 
welcomed  heartily  by  the  magistrates  and  the  people, 
and,  as  Governor  Bradford  records,  "he  was  friendly  en- 
tertained, according  to  their  poore  abilitie,  and  exercised 
his  gifts  among  them,  and  after  some  time  was  admitted 
a  member  of  ye  church."1 

The  record  of  his  life,  from  day  to  day,  among  the  Pil- 
grims is  meagre.  We  have  a  delightful  glimpse  of  it, 
however,  in  Governor  Winthrop's  account  of  a  visit  of  a 
week  at  Plymouth,  in  return  of  a  similar  visit  paid  by 
Governor  Bradford  at  Boston.  The  good  ship  Lyon, 
which,  as  we  have  seen,  brought  Roger  Williams  to  New 
England,  in  1630,  set  sail  from  England,  upon  her  next 
voyage,  in  August  of  the  next  year.  She  had,  among  her 
passengers,  John  Eliot,  who  became  the  apostle  to  the 
Indians,  and  Margaret,  the  wife  of  John  Winthrop.  The 
joy  of  the  governor  when,  in  November,  the  ship  arrived, 
was  fully  shared  by  the  colonists.  As  the  governor  him- 
self records,  "at  their  landing,  the  captains  with  their 
companies  in  arms,  entertained  them  with  a  guard,  and 
divers  vollies  of  shot  and  three  drakes ;  and  divers  of  the 
assistants  and  most  of  the  people  of  the  plantations  came 
to  welcome  them,  and  brought  and  sent  for  divers  days, 
great  store  of  provisions,  as  fat  hogs,  kids,  venison,  poul- 
try, geese,  partriges,  etc.  so  as  the  like  joy  and  manifes- 
tation of  love  had  never  been  seen  in  New  England."2 
The  occasion  was  celebrated  by  a  day  of  thanksgiving, 

Governor  Bradford's  History  of  PlimoiUh  Plantation,  Commonwealth 
ed.  p.  369. 
2Winthrop,  i,  p.  84. 


A  Political  Pioneer  35 

and,  the  good  news  having  reached  Plymouth,  Governor 
Bradford  hurried  to  the  Bay,  to  add  his  congratulations 
to  those  of  the  Bay  brethren. 

About  a  year  later,  in  October,  1632,  the  Lyon  again 
lay  at  anchor  in  the  harbor  of  Boston,  and  Governor 
Winthrop  determined  to  return  the  friendly  visit  of  his 
friend  Bradford.  Accordingly,  on  the  twenty-fifth  of 
that  month,  he  invited  the  Reverend  John  Wilson  to  ac- 
company him,  and  the  two  went  on  board  the  Lyon. 
Having  expressed  their  wishes  to  the  master  of  the  ves- 
sel, Mr.  Peirce,  the  latter  took  them  on  board  his  shallop 
and  conveyed  them  on  their  journey  as  far  as  Wessagus- 
set,  now  called  Weymouth.  Here  he  left  them  and  re- 
turned to  his  ship  which,  two  days  later  set  sail,  with  a 
north-westerly  wind,  bound  for  Virginia.  It  was  her  last 
voyage,  for,  six  days  after,  the  good  ship  Lyon  was 
wrecked  on  the  Virginia  coast;  and  it  may  be  that,  even 
to-day,  her  bones  lie  hidden  in  the  sands  of  Cape 
Charles.1 

Winthrop  and  Wilson,  upon  landing  at  Wessagusset, 
started  off  bravely  on  foot  through  the  forest,  under  the 
guidance  of  one  Luddam,  following,  no  doubt,  an  Indian 
trail,  the  trace  of  which  is  still  visible,  in  the  direction 
of  Plymouth.  The  settlement  was  about  twenty-five 
miles  distant,  and  the  road  was  none  of*1  the  smooth- 
est; and  yet  it  was  in  the  beautiful  Indian  summer 
time,  that  they  thus  journeyed,  when  the  woods  were 
blue  with  asters,  when  the  sunflower  reflected  its  golden 
petals  in  the  brooks  and,  in  the  swamps,  blazed  the 
cardinal  flower.  It  was,  no  doubt,  one  of  those  soft, 
mild  days,  one  of  those  perfect  days,  that  come  often  to 
New  England,   in   the  late  autumnal  time.     The  long 

'Winthrop,  1,  101. 


36  Roger  Williams 

walk,  through  the  sweet  woods  and  brilliant  fields  must 
have  been  well  enjoyed  by  the  two  devout  men,  and  one 
can  readily  imagine  of  what  they  talked,  as  they  jour- 
neyed on  together. 

Just  as  night  began  to  fall  around  them,  and  as  the 
frog  began  his  guttural  serenade  in  the  marshes,  and  the 
tree-toad  began  to  sing  his  merry  monotone,  they  saw, 
glimmering  through  the  trees,  the  welcome  lights  of  the 
homes  of  Plymouth.  They  were  not  unexpected  guests, 
for  the  colonists  were  watching  for  their  approach  and, 
as  they  emerged  from  the  shadow  of  the  woods,  a  party, 
with  two  men  of  unusual  dignity  of  bearing  at  its  head, 
advanced  to^meet  the  travellers.  Let  Governor  Win- 
throp  tell  the  story,  himself,  in  his  own  quaint  language. 

The  governour  of  Plimouth,  Mr.  William  Bradford,  (a  very 
discreet  and  grave  man),  with  Mr.  Brewster,  the  elder,  and 
some  others,  came  forth  and  met  them  without  the  town  and 
conducted  them  to  the  governour's  house,  where  they  were  very 
kindly  entertained,  and  feasted  every  day  at  several  houses.1 

The  story  which  Winthrop  tells  us  of  the  manner  in 
which  the  Sunday  of  his  visit  was  spent,  gives  us  the  only 
view  which  we  have  of  the  life  of  Roger  Williams  among 
these  people.  Let  us  continue  the  narrative  in  Win- 
throp's  own  words: 

On  the  Lord's  day  there  was  a  sacrament  which  they  did 
partake  in;  and  in  the  afternoon,  Mr.  Roger  Williams  (accord- 
ing to  their  custom)  propounded  a  question,  to  which  the  pastor, 
Mr.  Smith,  spake  briefly;  then  Mr.  Williams  prophesied;  and 
after  the  governour  of  Plimouth  spake  to  the  question;  after 
him  the  elder;  then  some  two  or  three  of  the  congregation. 
Then  the  elder  desired  the  governour  of  Massachusetts  and  Mr. 
Wilson  to  speak  to  it,  which  they  did.  When  this  was  ended, 
the  deacon,  Mr.  Fuller,  put  the  congregation  in  mind  of  their 

Winthrop,  i,  109. 


A  Political  Pioneer  37 

duty  of  contribution;  whereupon  the  governour  and  all  the  rest 
went  down  to  the  decon's  seat  and  put  into  the  box  and  then 
returned.1 

The  story  of  the  return  of  Governor  Winthrop  and 
Mr.  Wilson  to  Boston,  at  the  close  of  their  visit  at  Ply- 
mouth, is  of  interest,  as  quaintly  recorded  by  the  Gover- 
nor.    Thus  he  writes: 

Wednesday,  about  5  in  the  morning  the  governour  and  Mr. 
Wilson  came  out  of  Plymouth;  the  governour  of  Plymouth,  with 
the  pastor  and  elders,  etc.  accompanied  them  near  half  a  mile 
out  of  town  in  the  dark.  The  Lieut.  Holmes  with  two  others 
and  the  governour's  mare  came  along  with  them  to  the  great 
swamp  about  10  miles;  when  they  came  to  the  great  river  they 
were  carried  over  by  one  Luddam  their  guide,  as  they  had  been 
when  they  came,  the  stream  being  very  strong  and  up  to  the 
crotch.  So  the  governour  called  that  passage  Luddam's  Ford. 
Thence  they  came  to  a  place  called  Hue's  Cross.  The  gover- 
nour being  displeased  at  that  name,  in  respect  that  such  things 
might  hereafter  give  the  Papists  occasion  to  say  that  their  re- 
ligion was  first  planted  in  these  parts,  changed  the  name  and 
called  it  Hue's  Folly.  So  they  came,  that  evening  to  Wessa- 
guscus,  where  they  were  bountifully  entertained  as  before  with 
stores  of  turkeys,  geese,  ducks,  etc.,  and  the  next  day  came 
safe  to  Boston.2 

For  two  years,  then,  Roger  Williams  lived  among  the 
people  of  Plymouth  and  went  in  and  out  among  them,  ex- 
ercisingjhis  gift  of  "prophesy,"  or,  as  we  of  to-day  say,  of 
exhortation  and  instruction.  But,  as  we  have  already  seen 
in  his  correspondence  with  Lady  Barrington,  and  as  we 
shall  see  most  abundantly,  in  the  days  to  come,  Mr.  Will- 
iams was  of  an  exceedingly  disputatious  temper,  was  fond 
of  argument,  and  more  than  these,  was  disposed  to  form 
unique  opinions,  and  entertain  erratic  notions,  and  had 


lWinthrop,  i,  110. 
'Ibid. 


38  Roger  Williams 

scant  feeling  of  charity  for  those  who  ventured  to  differ 
with  him.  This  disputatious  temperament  is  well  shown 
in  a  matter  of  controversy,  which,  for  a  time,  had  been 
warmly  discussed  in  Plymouth  and  which  was  brought  up 
anew  during  Winthrop 's  visit,  that  his  opinion  might  be 
obtained  upon  the  matter  at  issue.  The  common  habit 
of  the  day  was  to  address  men  who  were  in  ordinary  walks 
of  life,  by  the  term  "Goodman."  Williams  contended 
that  such  an  appellation  was  blasphemous,  inasmuch  as 
the  Saviour  is  recorded  as  having  said:  "Why  callest  thou 
me  good;  there  is  none  good  but  one,  that  is  God."  Cer- 
tain of  the  leading  men  of  the  colony  took  issue  with  Will- 
iams, while  others,  as  is  natural,  accepted  his  view.  A 
controversy  arose  upon  this  trivial  matter,  and  waxed  so 
earnest  that  the  entire  people  of  the  settlement  were  arrayed 
one  against  another  in  dispute.  The  coming  of  Winthrop 
and  Wilson  was  hailed  with  pleasure,  and  the  question  was 
submitted  to  them  as  arbitrators.  Winthrop,  after  due 
consideration,  gave  answer  that  the  expression  criticised 
seemed  to  him  to  be  a  mere  conventionality,  and  he  quoted 
the  formula  of  the  sheriff,  in  summoning  a  jury  of  "good 
men  and  true,"  which  in  the  manner  is  understood  to  re- 
fer to  the  moral  qualities  of  the  persons  selected  as  jurors. 
He  suggested  that  the  use  of  the  terms  "Goodman"  and 
"Good wife"  were  merely  ancient  customs  and  without 
theological  import,  and  that  the  matter  was  scarcely  worthy 
of  serious  dispute. 

Happily,  these  well  considered  words  of  Winthrop  served 
to  allay  the  controversy.  But  this  was  only  one  of  the 
many  matters  which  Williams,  during  his  life  in  Plymouth, 
made  to  serve  as  bones  of  contention.  He  was  unable  to 
bring  all,  or  even  the  major  part  of  the  colonists  to  his  stand- 
ard, in  matters  of  little  or  great  import.  The  dignified 
and  scholarly  Bradford  was  an  especial  object  of  his  attacks 


A  Political  Pioneer  39 

and  him  he  did  not  hesitate,  at  times,  sharply  to  rebuke, 
not,  probably,  concerning  matters  of  personal  conduct, 
but  in  points  of  theology  wherein  they  differed. 

In  the  second  year  of  his  stay  with  them,  these  contro- 
versies, precipitated  by  Williams,  began  to  be  more  fre- 
quent, and  to  increase  in  acrimony,  and  at  length  ripened 
into  a  desire,  upon  his  part,  to  seek  a  new  field  and  new  as- 
sociates. Accordingly,  he  left  Plymouth  and  the  brethren 
there  and,  accompanied  by  a  handful  of  adherents,  bent 
his  steps  toward  the  plantation  at  Salem,  where  once  al- 
ready he  had  been  summoned  as  a  teacher. 

The  residence  of  Mr.  Williams  and  his  wife  at  Plymouth 
was  made  happy,  and,  to  them,  memorable \  for  here,  early 
in  August,  1633,  their  first  child  was  born  to  them,  and  was 
given  the  name  of  her  mother,  Mary. 

And  so  his  two  years  of  life  in  the  Old  Colony  came  to 
a  close,  and  he  parted  from  his  brethren  there,  not  in  anger; 
and  yet,  he  had  not  gained  among  them  a  reputation  for 
largeness  of  vision,  for  Bradford  makes  this  record : 

Mr.  Roger  Williams  (a  man  godly  and  zealous,  having  many 
precious  parts,  but  very  unsettled  m  judgemente)  came  over 
first  to  ye  Massachusets,  but  upon  some  dfscontente  left  yt  place 
and  came  hither,  (wher  he  was  friendly  entertained,  according 
to  their  poor  abilitie)  and  so  exercised  hfs  gifts  amongst  them 
&  after  some  time  was  admitted  a  member  of  ye  church;  and 
his  teaching  well  approved,  for  ye  benefite  wherof  I  still  blese 
God,  and  am  thankfull  to  him,  even  for  his  sharpest  admonitions 
and  reproofs,  so  farr  as  they  agreed  with  truth.  He  this  year 
begane  to  fall  into  some  Strang  oppinions  and  from  opinion  to 
practise;  which  caused  some  controversie  betweene  ye  church 
&  him,  and  in  ye  end  some  discontente  on  his  parte,  by  occasion 
wherof  he  left  them  something  abruptly,  yet  afterwards  sued 
for  his  dismission  to  ye  church  of  Salem,  which  was  granted, 
with  some  caution  to  them  concerning  him,  and  what  care  they 
ought  to  have  of  him.     But  he  soone  fell  into  more  things  ther, 


40  Roger  Williams 

both  to  their  and  ye  governments  troble  and  disturbance.  I 
shall  not  need  to  name  perticulers,  they  are  too  well  knowen 
now  to  all,  though  for  a  time  ye  church  here  wente  under  some 
hard  censure  by  his  occasion,  from  some  that  afterwards  smarted 
themselves.  But  he  is  to  be  pitied  and  prayed  for,  and  so  I 
shall  leave  ye  matter,  and  desire  ye  Lord  to  shew  him  his  cross, 
and  reduce  him  into  ye  way  of  truth,  and  give  him  setled 
judgment  and  constenicie  in  ye  same:  for  I  hope  he  belongs  to 
ye  Lord;  and  yt  he  will  shew  him  mercy.1 

We  have  but  slight  evidence  that  Winthrop  and  Williams 
had  met  in  England,  before  the  coming  of  either  to  this 
country.  That  the  latter  was  known  to  Winthrop,  at  least 
by  reputation,  before  his  arrival  at  Boston,  may  be  inferred 
from  the  governor's  record  of  the  arrival  of  Williams,  and 
his  characterization  of  him  as  "a  godley  minister."  But, 
throughout  the  career  of  Williams  in  this  country,  both  in 
the  Bay  Colony  and  in  the  Providence  Plantations,  we 
have  undoubted  evidence  that  Winthrop,  although  he  sel- 
dom agreed  with  him  in  matters  controversial,  held  the 
other  in  esteem  and  affection.  The  earliest  letter  of  Roger 
Williams  extant — save  the  two  already  shown — is  addressed 
to  John  Winthrop,  and  was  written  at  Plymouth,  prob- 
ably in  the  year  1632.  It  is  written  in  the  same  obscure 
terms,  which  characterize  the  letters  addressed  to  Lady 
Barrington,  which  feature  marks,  indeed,  a  peculiarity  of 
Williams's  epistolary  style.  It  is  evident,  from  this  letter, 
that  the  writer  had  previously  received  one  or  more  let- 
ters of  friendly  import  from  Winthrop,  in  which  letters 
acknowledgment  had  been  made  of  some  kindly  offices 
proffered  by  the  Plymouth  brethren.  It  would  also  ap- 
pear that  Williams  had  been  consulted  by  Winthrop  re- 
garding some  details  of  ecclesiastical  or  political  practice. 
It  would  seem,  also,  that  Winthrop  had  offered  to  under- 


'Bradford,  Commonwealth,  ed.  p.  369. 


A  Political  Pioneer  41 

take  the  importation  of  some  cattle  for  Williams,  or 
perhaps  for  the  Plymouth  colonists,  who,  at  this  time, 
were  communists..  The  letter,  in  a  remarkable  degree 
breathes  the  spirit  of  friendliness  and  good  will. 

Roger  Williams  to  John  Winthbop. 
For  the  right  worshipful  John  Winthrop,  Esq., 

Governor  of  the  English  in  the  Massachusetts. 

Plymouth  [1632] 
Much  honored  and  beloved  in  Christ  Jesu«t — 

Your  Christian  acceptance  of  our  cup  of  cold  water  is  a  blessed 
cup  of  wine,  strong  and  pleasant  to  our  wearied  spirits.  Only 
let  me  crave  a  word  of  explanation;  among  other  pleas  for  a 
young  councellor  (which  I  fear  will  be  too  light  in  the  balance 
of  the  Holy  One)  you  argue  from  twenty  five  In  a  church  elder; 
'tis  a  riddle  as  yet  to  me  whether  you  mean  an  elder  In  these 
New  English  churches  or,  (which  I  believe  not)  old  English — 
diiorderly  functions,  from  whence  our  Jehova  of  armies  more 
and  more  redeemed  his  Israel — or  the  Levites  who  served  from 
twenty  five  to  fifty,  Numb.  8,  24;  or  myself  but  a  child  in  every- 
thing, (though  in  Christ  called,  and  persecuted  even  and  out 
of  my  father's  house  these  20  years)  I  am  no  elder  in  any  church, 
no  more  nor  so  much  as  your  worthy  self,  nor  ever  shall  be,  if 
the  Lord  please  to  grant  my  desires  that  I  may  intent  what  I 
long  after,  the  natives'  souls,  and  yet  if  I  at  present  were  I  should 
be  in  the  days  of  my  vanity  nearer  upwards  of  30  than  25;  or 
whether  Timothy  or  Titus  be  in  thought,  &c,  at  your  leisure 
I  crave  interpretation.  Sorry  I  am  since  Rationals  so  much 
circumround  and  trouble  you,  that  bestiale  quid  (and  mine  es- 
pecially) should  come  near  you;  but  since  the  Lord  of  Heaven 
is  Lord  of  Earth  also,  and  you  follow  him  as  a  dear  child,  I 
thankfully  acknowledge  your  care  and  love  about  the  cattle 
and  further  entreat  if  you  may  (as  you  give  me  encouragement) 
procure  the  whole  of  that  second  and  let  me  know  how,  and 
how  much  payment  will  be  here  accepted,  or  in  money  in  Eng- 
land.    The  Lord  Jesus  be  with  your  spirit  and  your  dearest 


42  Roger  Williams 

one  and  mine  in  their  extremities.    To  you  both  and  all  the 
Saints  our  due  remembrances. 

Yours  In  unfeigned  and  brotherly  affection, 

Roger  Williams. 

The  brethren  salute  you.    You  lately  sent  music  to  our  ears 
when  we  heard  you  persuaded  (and  that  effectually  and  success 
fully)  our  beloved  Mr.  Nowell  to  surrender  up  one  sword;  and 
that  you  were  preparing  to  seek  the  Lord  further;  a  duty  not  so 
frequent  with  Plymouth  as  formerly;  but  spero  meliora. 

Mr.  Williams  himself  makes  a  brief  record  of  his  life 
in  Plymouth,  in  his  letter  to  John  Cotton,  the  younger, 
already  quoted.1  From  this  we  learn  that,  although 
studious  and  thoughtful,  ready  with  tongue  and  pen,  he 
was  mindful  of  the  temporal  affairs  of  life,  and  did  not 
hesitate  to  perform  his  allotted  share  of  the  work  of  the 
field. 

"At  Plymouth,"  he  wrote.  "I  spake  on  the  Lord's  days 
and  week  days  and  wrought  hard  at  the  hoe  for  my  bread 
(and  so  afterward  at  Salem),  until  I  found  them  both 
professing  to  be  a  separated  people  in  New  England 
(not  admitting  the  most  godly  to  communion  without  a 
covenant)  and  yet  communicating  with  the  parishes  in 
Old  by  their  members  repairing  on  frequent  occasions 
thither."1 


^roc.  Mass.  Hist.  Soc.,  1855-1858,315;  Pub.  Nar.  Club,  vi,  356. 


CHAPTER  III 

The  removal  of  Williams  from  Plymouth  to  Salem, 
an  event  which  occurred  probably  in  the  autumn  of  the 
year  1633,  was,  in  reality,  the  beginning  of  his  career  in 
the  Colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay.  It  is  probable  that 
his  first  stay  in  Boston,  and  in  Salem — if,  indeed,  he  did 
really  go  to  Salem  before  his  withdrawal  to  Plymouth — 
did  not  cover  more  than  four  or  five  months  of  time. 
At  Plymouth  he  was  without  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
magistrates  of  the  Bay;  and,  indeed,  they  were  in  no  man- 
ner brought  into  controversy  with  him,  during  his  stay 
there,  save  as  has  already  been  recorded.  His  arrival  at 
Salem,  however,  was  followed  by  a  series  of  disputes, 
precipitated  by  him,  which  threw  the  entire  colony  into 
disorder,  and  resulted  finally  in  his  banishment  from 
the  jurisdiction. 

The  composition  of  the  Salem  settlement,  with  its  Separa- 
tist tendencies,  has  already  been  discussed.  Still,  the 
church  there  was,  constructively,  in  fellowship  with  the 
English  church,  and  one  may  be  allowed  faintly  to  wonder 
why  Roger  Williams  had  no  trouble  of  conscience  in  min- 
istering to  them,  since  he  was  debarred  by  conscience  from 
remaining  with  the  Boston  church.  But,  nevertheless, 
having  arrived  at  Salem,  Williams  wrote  to  the  church  at 
Plymouth,  desiring  letters  of  dismissal  to  the  Salem  church. 
These  were  granted,  "with  some  caution  to  them  concern- 
ing him  and  what  care  they  ought  to  have  of  him."1  At 
once  he  entered  upon  his  work  as  teacher.     Yet  he  was 


'Bradford,  p.  370;  d  vide  Mather's  Magnolia  Christi  Americana,  ii,  496. 


44  Roger  Williams 

not  formally  installed  in  office,  but  ministered  to  the  people 
even  as  he  had  done  in  Plymouth.  The  spirit  of  contro- 
versy, which  had  already  displayed  itself  as  a  prominent 
trait  of  his  character,  could  not  long  remain  in  abeyance. 
The  ministers  of  the  colony  were  wont  to  assemble  from 
Newetown,  (Cambridge)  Watertown,  Roxbury,  Dorches- 
ter, Salem  and  elsewhere,  "  at  one  of  their  houses  by  course, 
for  the  purpose  of  discussing  and  consulting  upon  questions 
of  common  interest."  One  cannot  help  recalling  a  similar 
custom  which  prevails  in  many  of  the  cities  of  New  Eng- 
land at  the  present  day,  of  the  assembling  of  the  clergy  of 
the  various  denominations,  each  in  their  own  place  of  meet- 
ing, on  successive  Monday  mornings  for  discussion 
and  conference.  It  was  not  long  after  Williams' 
arrival  at  Salem,  in  November,  1633,  that  he  "took  some 
exception  against  it  as  fearing  it  might  grow  in  time  to  a 
presbytery,  or  superintendency,  to  the  prejudice  of  the 
churches'  liberty.  But  this  fear  was  without  cause, 
for  they  were  all  clear  on  that  point,  that  no  church  or 
person  can  have  power  over  another  church,  neither  did 
they  in  their  meetings  exercise  any  such  jurisdiction."1 

This  attack  upon  the  association  was  the  first  muttering 
of  the  storm  that  was  to  follow — a  storm  which  shook  the 
Colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay  to  its  foundations,  and  well 
nigh  destroyed  its  stability.  In  December,  1633,  Williams 
had  promulgated  an  idea  which  was,  in  effect,  a  formal 
attack  upon  the  very  groundwork  of  the  colonial  structure. 
He  forwarded  to  the  governor  and  assistants  a  treatise 
which  he  had  prepared  during  his  residence  at  Plymouth, 
"wherein,  among  other  things,  he  disputed  their  right  to 
the  lands  they  possessed  here,  and  concluded  that,  claim- 


lWinthrop,  i,  139. 


A  Political  Pioneer  45 

ing  by  the  King's  grant,  they  could  have  no  title,  nor  other- 
wise, except  they  compounded  with  the  natives."1 

So  bold  and  so  radical  a  movement  as  this  at  once  created 
alarm  among  the  magistracy,  for  it  was  not  only  an  attack 
upon  the  validity  of  the  king's  patent — the  very  root  and 
groundwork  of  their  political  structure —  but  it  implied  a 
reflection  upon  the  royal  prerogative,  which,  prior  to  the 
reign  of  Anne,  included  the  right  to  alienate  crown  lands 
by  grant  at  pleasure.  It  was  still  more  than  this  for,  in 
this  treatise,  King  James  was  openly  charged  with  having 
told  "a  solemn  public  lie,  because,  in  his  patent,  he  blessed 
God  that  he  was  the  first  Christian  prince  that  had  dis- 
covered this  land. "  Again,  he  charged  the  king  and  others 
"with  blasphemy,  for  calling  Europe  Christendom,  or  the 
Christian  World."3  Still  more  than  this.  Winthrop  records 
that  Williams  "did  personally  apply  to  our  present  king, 
Charles,  these  three  places  in  the  Revelation,  viz."  But 
what  were  these  references  to  the  Apocalypse  we  can  only 
conjecture,  for  the  historian  suddenly  paused,  evidently 
with  the  intent  of  refreshing  his  memory  in  the  interest  of 
accuracy,  and  he  never  returned  to  complete  his  entry. 

This  attack  upon  the  king  could  have  been  no  less  dis- 
tasteful to  the  magistracy  of  the  Bay  than  was  the  attack 
upon  the  validity  of  the  patent;  for  they 'well  knew  that, 
were  these  utterances  but  to  reach  the  ears  of  the  imperi- 
ous Charles,  they  would  be  regarded  as  nothing  less  than 
treason.  A  meeting  of  the  governor  and  assistants  was 
hastily  called,  on  the  twenty-seventh  day  of  December,  1633, 
to  take  these  matters  into  serious  consideration.  Endecott, 
unfortunately,  was  absent  and  accordingly  a  letter  was 
addressed  to  him  by  Winthrop,  "to  let  him  know  what 

'Winthrop,   i,    145. 
'Idem. 


46  Roger  Williams 

was  done  and  withal  added  divers  arguments  to  confute 
the  said  errors,  wishing  him  to  deal  with  Mr.  Williams  to 
retract  the  same  etc.  Whereto  he  returned  a  very  modest 
and  discreet  answer."1 

What  were  the  "arguments"  put  forth  by  Winthrop, 
"to  confute  the  said  errors"  promulgated  by  Williams  in 
his  treatise,  the  governor  does  not  record.  But  they  were, 
without  doubt,  the  same  as,  or  similiar  to,  those  contained 
in  his  "Conclusions  for  the  Plantation  in  New  England," 
wherein  he  answers  "  divers  objections  wch  have  been  made 
against  this  plantation  wth  their  answeares  and  resolucons :" 

Ob:  1:  We  have  noe  warrant  to  enter  uppon  that  land  w0*1 
hath  been  soe  long  possessed  by  others. 

Answ:  1:  That  wch  lies  comon  &  hath  never  been  replen- 
ished or  subdued  is  free  to  any  that  will  possesse  and  improve 
it,  for  god  hath  given  to  the  sonnes  of  men  a  double  right  to  the 
earth,  there  is  a  naturall  right  &  a  Civill  right  the  first  right 
was  naturall  when  men  held  the  earth  in  common  every  man 
soweing,  and  feeding  where  he  pleased:  and  then  as  men  and 
the  cattle  increased  they  appropriated  certaine  pcells  of  ground 
by  enclosing,  and  peculier  manurance,  and  this  in  tyme  gave 
them  a  Civill  right,  such  was  the  right  wch  Ephron  theHittite 
had  in  the  feild  of  Mackpelah  wherein  Abraham  could  not  bury 
a  dead  corps  wthout  leave,  though  for  the  out  parts  of  the  Country 
wch  lay  common  he  dwelt  uppon  them,  &  tooke  the  fruit  of  them 
att  his  pleasure,  the  like  did  Jacob  wch  fedd  his  cattle  as  bold  in 
Hamors  land  (for  he  is  sayd  to  be  the  lord  of  the  Country)  and 
other  places  where  he  came  as  ye  native  inhabitants  themselves 
&  that  in  those  times  &  places  men  accoumpted  nothing  their 
owne  but  that  wch  they  had  appropriated  by  their  owne  indus- 
try, appeares  plainly  by  this  that  Abimelecks  servants  in  their 
owne  Countrey  when  they  oft  contended  wth  Isaacks  servants 
about  wells  w°h  they  hadd  digged  yett  never  strove  for  the  land 
wherein  they  were.  Soe  likewise  between  Jacob   &  Laban  he 

Winthrop,  i,  145. 


A  Political  Pioneer  47 

would  not  take  a  kidd  of  Labans  wthout  his  speciall  contract, 
but  he  makes  noe  bargain  wth  him  for  the  land  where  they  feed, 
and  it  is  very  pbable  if  the  countrey  had  not  been  as  free  for 
Jacob  as  for  Laban,  that  covetous  wretch  would  have  made  his 
advantage  of  it,  &  have  upbrayded  Jacob  wth  it,  as  he  did  w1*1 
his  cattle,  And  for  the  Natives  in  New  England  they  inclose  noe 
land  neither  have  any  settled  habitation  nor  any  tame  cattle  to 
improve  the  land  by,  &  soe  have  noe  other  but  a  naturall  right 
to  those  countries  Soe  as  if  wee  leave  them  sufficient  for  their  use 
wee  may  lawfully  take  the  rest,  there  being  more  then  enough 
for  them   &  us. 

9^y  We  shall  come  in  wth  the  good  leave  of  the  Natives,  who 
finde  benefitt  already  by  our  neighbourhood  &  learne  of  us  to 
improve  pt  to  more  use,  then  before  they  could  doe  the  whole, 
&  by  this  meanes  wee  come  in  by  valuable  purchase:  for  they 
hav  of  us  that  wch  will  yield  them  more  benefitt  than  all  the 
land  wch  wee  have  from  them. 

3(lly  God  hath  consumed  the  Natives  wth  a  great  plague  in 
those  pts  soe  as  there  be  few  in-habi tan ts  left. 

For  a  time  the  disputatious  spirit  of  Williams  was 
stayed,  and  he  wrote  a  letter  to  the  governor  and  assis- 
tants, "very  submissively,  professing  his  intent  to  have 
been  only  to  have  written  for  the  private  satisfaction  of 
the  governor,  etc.,  of  Plimouth,  without  any  purpose  to 
have  stirred  any  further  in  it,  if  the  governor  here  had 
not  required  a  copy  of  him;  withal,  offering  his  book  or 
any  part  of  it  to  be  burnt."  "At  the  next  court,"  con- 
tinues Winthrop,  "he  appeared  penitently,  and  gave  sat- 
isfaction of  his  intention  and  loyalty.  So  it  was  left  and 
nothing  done  in  it."1 

This  matter,  together  with  the  submission  of  Mr.  Will- 
iams, was  again  taken  into  serious  consideration  and 
made  the  subject  of  discussion  at  a  meeting  of  the  gover- 


•Winthrop,    i    145. 


48  Roger  Williams 

nor  and  council  a  month  later  than  the  date  of  this  record. 
Governor  Winthrop  makes  this  entry  under  date  of  Jan- 
uary 24,  1633: 

The  governor  and  council  met  again  at  Boston  to  consider 
of  Mr.  Williams's  letter,  etc.,  when  with  the  advice  of  Mr.  Cotton 
and  Mr.  Wilson  and  weighing  his  letter  and  further  considering 
of  the  aforesaid  passages  in  his  book,  (which  being  written  in 
very  obscure  and  implicative  phrases,  might  well  admit  of  doubt- 
ful interpretation,)  they  found  the  matters  not  to  be  so  evil  as  at 
first  they  seemed.  Whereupon  they  agreed  that,  upon  his  re- 
traction, etc.,  or  taking  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  king,  etc., 
it  should  be  passed  over.1 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that,  in  all  the  records  which  we 
have  concerning  Roger  Williams,  this  is,  during  his  resi- 
dence in  the  Bay  Colony,  the  sole  recorded  instance  in 
which  he  is  represented  as  formally  receding  from  a  po- 
sition once  assumed.  We  may,  therefore,  conclude  that 
his  attacks  upon  the  king's  patent,  and  upon  the  king's 
personal  character,  were  desired  by  him  to  be  regarded 
simply  as  theories.  He  was,  it  may  be  believed,  at  heart 
truly  loyal  to  the  government  of  the  colony  as  established, 
and  loyal  to  the  king.  And  yet,  despite  his  submission, 
and  his  apparent  penitence,  his  proclivity  to  controver- 
sial discussion  soon  overmastered  his  good  resolutions. 
It  was  less  than  a  year  after  this  episode  that  it  became 
known,  to  the  surprise  and  discomfiture  of  the  magis- 
trates, that  Williams  had  "stirred  further  in  it"  and  was 
again  engaged,  and  now  openly  and  publicly,  in  denounc- 
ing the  royal  patent, (by  which  the  colonists  claimed 
their  title  to  the  soil  urjon  which  they  had  erected  their 
homes  and  upon  the  authority  of  which  they  had  built 
up  their  political  structured 

And  now  arose  a  new  question,  frivolous  and  trivial, 

'Ibid,  i,  147. 


A  Political  Pioneer  49 

as  it  seems  to  us  of  to-day,  but,  to  the  mind  of  Williams, 
of  serious  import.  It  would  appear  that  his  mind  was 
so  constructed  that  he  was  unable  to  discern  the  relative 
importance  of  things.  When,  therefore,  he  dropped  for 
a  time  the  discussion  of  the  validity  of  the  king's  patent, 
to  enforce  the  notion  that  women  should  not  appear  in 
public,  and  especially  at  church,  unveiled,  the  triviality 
of  the  contention  does  not  appear  to  have  appealed  to 
his  mind. 

In  March,  1633,  Governor  Winthrop  makes  this  record : 
At  the  lecture  at  Boston  a  question  was  propounded  about 
veils.  Mr.  Cotton  concluded  that  where,  (by  the  custom  of  the 
place,)  they  were  not  a  sign  of  women's  subjection,  they  were 
not  commanded  by  the  apostle.  Mr.  Endecott  opposed  and 
did  maintain  it  by  general  arguments  brought  on  by  the  apostle. 
After  some  debate,  the  governor,  perceiving  it  to  grow  to  some 
earnestness,  interposed  and  so  it  brake  off.1 

By  whom  this  question  was  propounded  at  the  lecture 
the  annalist  leaves  us  in  doubt,  but  from  the  fact  that 
Mr.  Endecott,  an  ardent  admirer  and  frequent  champion 
of  Williams,  maintained  a  prominent  part  in  the  discus- 
sion, one  may  well  imagine  that  the  propounder  was  Mr. 
Endecott  himself,  or,  it  may  be,  Mr.  Williams.  At  all 
events  it  is  certain  that  Mr.  Williams  introduced  the  sub- 
ject to  his  people  at  Salem  and  argued  to  such  good  effect 
that  the  major  portion  of  the  women  of  his  congregation 
thought  it  a  shame  to  them  to  appear  in  public  unveiled. 

It  was  now  that  Williams  first  since  his  arrival  in  New 
England,  was  brought  into  open  controversy  with  John 
Cotton.  That  they  were  old  antagonists  we  cannot  fail 
to  recall;  for  the  memorable  ride  of  Cotton,  Williams,  and 
Hooker,  to  Sempringham,  and  the  earnest  discussion  by 
the   way  are  still  fresh  in  memory.     They  were  lifelong 

Winthrop,  i  149. 


50  Roger  Williams 

antagonists,  too,  for  the  fame  of  Williams  as  an  author 
rests  largely  upon  his  published  controversies  upon  doc- 
trinal points  with  this  same  John  Cotton.  Friendly  they 
were  always  and  often  affectionate  in  their  intercourse 
one  with  another;  and  yet,  it  is  probable  that,  throughout 
their  lives,  these  two  men,  so  diverse  were  their  habits  of 
thought,  were  able  to  find  no  topic  upon  which  they  were 
in  entire  accord. 

John  Cotton  had  been,  for  many  years,  the  vicar  of  the 
Church  of  St.  Botolph  in  Boston,  Lincolnshire;  and  when 
he  came  to  New  England,  in  1634,  he  found  himself  among 
friends.  That  very  many  of  the  Winthrop  company  were 
from  the  region  about  Boston,  in  Lincolnshire  is  apparent, 
if  in  no  other  way,  from  the  fact  of  the  assumption  of  the 
name  of  the  old  city,  by  the  newly  planted  settlement. 
When,  therefore,  the  former  minister  of  St.  Botolph's  ap- 
peared in  the  streets  of  Boston  in  New  England,  the  wel- 
come of  the  people  was  undisguised.  He  at  once  was 
installed  as  assistant  pastor  of  the  First  Church  in  Bos- 
ton, the  position  which  had  been  spurned  by  Williams; 
and  although  he  had  early  in  his  career  in  his  new  home, 
come  in  rude  contact  with  the  people,  by  advocating,  in 
an  election  sermon,  something  which  approached  the 
idea  of  a  life  tenure  of  office  for  the  magistracy,  he  had 
sufficient  tact  to  refrain  from  making  an  offensive  hobby 
of  his  notion.  When  Williams  put  forth  his  fresh  con- 
tention concerning  the  wearing  of  veils  by  women,  Cotton 
was  quick  to  discern  the  weak  spot  in  the  armor  and  to 
accept  the  challenge.  He  saw  at  once  the  fallacy  of  the 
position  of  Williams,  and  he  embraced  an  early  oppor- 
tunity to  pass  a  Lord's  Day  with  the  Salem  brethren.  He 
was,  as  a  matter  of  course,  invited  to  speak  to  the  people, 
but  whether  by  way  of  preaching,  or  of  "prophesy,"  can- 
not now  be  said. 


A  Political  Pioneer  51 

It  is  certain  that  Mr.  Williams  had  many  followers  and 
admirers,  especially  among  the  women  of  his  flock. 
Some  of  his  adherents  at  Plymouth  had  followed  him  to 
Salem,  and  he  had  gained  very  many  others  from  among 
his  new  people.  So  earnest  were  the  women  in  following 
his  guidance  that,  when  Mr.  Cotton  arose  to  speak,  he 
beheld  the  strange  spectacle  of  a  congregation,  the  great- 
er portion  of  the  female  members  of  which  had  concealed 
their  features  behind  impenetrable  veils.  Mr.  Cotton's 
opportunity  was  before  him  and,  being  sure  of  his  position, 
he  would  have  been  more  than  human  had  he  not  taken 
an  inward  pleasure  in  flooring  his  old  antagonist  upon 
his  own  ground  and  from  his  own  pulpit.  He  launched 
into  a  discussion  of  the  subject  before  him  in  so  open  an 
object  lesson,  and  discountenanced  the  practice  of  wear- 
ing veils  upon  scriptural  grounds.  He  showed  them  that, 
among  the  ancient  Hebrews,  it  was  the  young  virgins 
only,  whose  habit  it  was  to  go  in  public  closely  veiled ;  and 
that  this  rule  in  no  manner  applied  to  other  women. 
The  only  exceptions  t©  this  rule,  among  the  Hebrews,  he 
found  in  the  harlots,  citing  the  case  of  Tamar,  who  "cov- 
ered herself  with  a  veil  and  wrapped  herself  and  sat  in 
an  open  place" — an  example  which  none  of  his  hearers 
were  anxious  to  be  regarded  as  following.1 

Lastly,  Mr.  Cotton  quoted  the  case  of  Ruth  who,  in 
her  widowhood  was  wrapped  about  with  a  veil,  as  related 
in  Ruth  III,  15.  Now,  inasmuch  as  his  female  auditors, 
who  sat  before  him,  with  their  faces  securely  hidden,  were 
not  all  maidens,  nor  yet  all  widows,  and  none  were  dis- 
solute women  of  the  town,  scriptural  arguments  in  favor 
of  the  universal  wearing  of  veils  could  not  be  urged,  but 
quite  the  contrary. 

•Genesis  XXXVIII,  14,  15. 


52  Roger  Williams 

It  was  in  the  forenoon  that  Mr.  Cotton  thus  vigorously 
discoursed  to  the  good  women  of  Salem;  and  when  the 
congregation  assembled  for  the  afternoon  worship  a  won- 
derful change  was  apparent.  Mr.  Cotton,  so  relates  the 
Reverend  William  Hubbard,  "by  his  doctrine  convinced 
most  of  the  women  in  the  place,  that  it  unveiled  them,  so 
as  they  appeared  in  the  afternoon  without  their  veils,  being 
convinced  that  they  need  not  put  on  veils  on  any  such 
account  as  the  use  of  that  covering  is  mentioned  in  the 
scriptures;  and  his  discourse,"  continues  Mr.  Hubbard, 
"let  in  so  much  light  unto  their  understandings  that  they 
who  before  thought  it  a  shame  to  be  seen  in  the  publick 
without  a  veil,  were  ashamed  ever  after  to  be  covered  with 
them."1 

Mr.  Williams,  upon  this  occasion,  seems  to  have  been 
convinced  of  the  superiority  of  Mr.  Cotton's  reasoning,  or 
to  have  been  left  without  a  following,  for  we  hear  no  more 
of  this  notion.  Indeed,  it  was  soon  forgotten  in  a  matter 
of  much  greater  moment  which,  not  long  after,  presented 
itself. 

It  is  unquestionably  true  that  John  Endecott  was  great- 
ly impressed  with  the  personality  of  Williams  and  held  his 
teachings  in  high  regard.  As  early  as  1628  Endecott  had 
come  out  from  England,  at  the  head  of  a  small  body  of 
colonists,  who  added  their  strength  to  the  feeble  settlement 
at  Naumkeag,  or  Salem,  led  by  Roger  Conant,  the  remnant 
of  John  White's  Dorchester  Associates.  He  was  the  pro- 
visional governor  of  the  English  colonies  in  New  England, 
until  superseded  by  John  Winthrop,  the  first  governor  un- 
der the  charter  granted  March  4,  1629.  But,  although 
no  longer  the  governor,  Endecott  was  a  personage  of  no 
little  influence  in  the  settlement  at  Salem,  and,  indeed, 


'Hubbard,  v.  204,  205. 


A  Political  Pioneer  53 

throughout  the  jcolony.  Hawthorne,  in  one  of  his  "Twice 
Told  Tales,"  has  drawn  with  a  master  hand  the  picture 
of  this  great  leader  of  men,  with  his  sword,  in  the  presence 
of  the  train  band  of  Salem,  thrusting  through  and  through 
the  standard  of  England,  and  tearing  from  it  the  cross  of 
St.  George.1  The  romancer  ascribes  this  bold  act,  in  a 
measure  fancifully,  no  doubt,  to  the  reception  of  a  letter, 
wherein  is  shown  the  determination  of  Charles  I,  influenced 
by  Archbishop  Laud,  to  send  over  a  governor-general  of 
the  colonies  and  to  force  upon  the  people  of  New  England 
the  Episcopal  form  of  worship.  Cotton  Mather  is  authority 
for  the  statement  that  to  the  influence  and  teachings  of 
Williams  are  to  be  ascribed  this  act — an  act  which,  were 
its  commission  to  become  known  in  England  would, 
and  properly  so,  be  regarded  as  treason.2  At  the  pre- 
sent day,  in  Massachusetts,  any  mutilation  of,  or  indignity 
offered  to  the  national  flag,  is  an  offence,  punishable  by 
a  heavy  fine. 

This  deed  of  Mr.  Endecott  alarmed  the  governor  and 
magistrates;  for  surely,  as  matters  then  stood  between  the 
colony  and  the  home  government,  it  was  an  act  of  the 
greatest  imprudence,  as  tending  to  precipitate  a  feeling  of 
ill  will,  then  (as  we  shall  see  farther  on,)  rapidly  becoming 
intensified.  It  was  not  forgotten  that  five  years  before, 
John  and  Samuel  Browne  had  been  sent  back  to  England 
because  of  their  determination  to  conform  to  the  practices 
of  the  Church  of  England,  and  that,  on  arriving  there 
they  had  entered  complaint  to  the  king's  council,  of  the 
non-conformity  of  the  colonists.  A  meeting  of  the  governor 
and  assistants  was  hastily  called,  at  the  governor's  house 
in  Boston,  on  the  twenty-seventh  day  of  November,  1634, 


•Endicott  and  the  Red  Cross. 

1 Magnolia  Christi  Americana,  ii,  499. 


54  Roger  Williams 

to  consider  the  matter.  Some  of  the  ministers  of  the  Col- 
ony were  called  into  the  conference,  so  grave  an  affair  did 
this  appear  to  be;  and  very  solemn  was  this  consultation 
of  magistrates  and  elders.  After  due  consideration  it  was 
resolved,  in  order  that  all  suspicion  of  participation  in,  or 
approval  of,  the  act  of  Endecott  might  be  averted  from  them 
that  a  letter,  to  be  signed  by  all,  should  be  addressed  to  Mr. 
Downing,  in  England,  the  brother-in-law  of  Winthrop. 
This  letter,  it  was  proposed,  should  state  plainly  the  exact 
truth  of  the  matter,  expressing  their  disapproval  of  the  act 
and  their  purpose  of  punishing  the  offender.  Very  politic 
were  Winthrop  and  the  magistrates  and  elders,  in  the 
phraseology  of  this  missive,  for  they  wrote  it,  says  Winthrop 
"with  as  much  wariness  as  we  might,  being  doubtful  of  the 
lawful  use  of  the  cross  in  an  ensign,  though  we  were  clear 
that  fact,  as  concerning  the  matter,  was  very  unlawful.1" 
Nevertheless,  doubtful  as  were  those  Puritan  settlers, 
in  their  disapproval  of  Romanism,  of  the  propriety  of  the 
use  of  the  cross  as  a  national  symbol,  they  were  not  pre- 
pared to  bring  themselves  in  direct  antagonism  with  the 
home  government  upon  this  issue.  The  cross  of  St.  George 
was  a  device  upon  the  national  colors,  and  the  flag  as  a 
symbol  of  the  government  to  which  they  owed  their  alle- 
giance, demanded  their  reverence.  A  man  prominent  in 
the  councils  of  the  colony  had  defaced  it  wantonly,  and 
his  act  must  be  promptly  and  formally  repudiated.  The 
missive  sent  to  London,  disclaiming  sympathy  with  the 
act  of  Endecott,  was  not  deemed  sufficient  to  this  end.  At 
the  session  of  the  Great  and  General  Court,  held  March  4, 
1634-5,  the  matter  was  brought  up  and  fully  discussed, 
and  it  was  "voted  by  the  major  of  the  court  that  the  act 
of  Mr.  Endecott  in  altering  the  crosse  in  the  ensign  at  Salem 


'Winthrop,  i.  179. 


A  Political  Pioneer  55 

shall  be  referd  for  hearing  and  determining  therefor  till  the 
next  general  court."1  It  is  to  be  noted  that  Endecott  was 
a  member  of  the  General  Court  which  passed  this  resolve, 
as  one  of  the  Assistants,  and  that  he  was  present  at  its 
passage. 

The  "  next  General  Court, "  to  which  this  matter  was  re- 
ferred, convened  May  6, 1635.  It  was  a  court  of  elections, 
and  John  Haynes  was  elected  governor.  It  is  noticeable 
that  the  name  of  Endecott  does  not  appear,  either  among 
the  Assistants,  or  as  one  of  the  deputies  to  this  court.  Af- 
ter the  election  was  over,  and  some  minor  matters  of  rou- 
tine disposed  of,  "  Mr.  Brenten,  Richard  Collicott,  Willm. 
Heath,  Abraham  Palmer,  Edward  Stebbens,  Mr.  Oldham, 
Tymothy  Tomlyns,  Francis  Weston,  Humfry  Bradstreet, 
Mr.  Goodwyn,  Mr.  Ollyver,  Mr.  Mayhewe,  Mr.  Spencer 
were  chosen  a  comitee  to  consider  the  act  of  Mr.  Endecott 
in  defacing  the  colors  and  to  report  to  the  court  how  far 
they  judge  it  sensureable.  "a 

This  committee  retired  for  consultation  and,  later  in 
the  day,  made  its  report,  as  in  the  record  here  shown : — 

The  comissioners  chosen  to  consider  of  the  act  of  Mr.  Ende- 
cott concerning  the  colors  att  Salem  did  reporte  to  the  court 
that  they  apprehend  hee  had  offended  therin  many  wayse  in 
rashnes,  uncharitableness,  indiscrecon  and  exceeding  the 
limitts  of  his  calling.  Whereupon  the  court  hath  sensured  him 
to  be  sadly  admonished  for  his  offense,  which  accordingly  he 
was  and  also  disabled  for  beareing  any  office  in  the  com  on  wealth 
for  the  space  of  a  year  nexte  ensueing.3 

Thus  the  executive  and  legislative  departments  of  the 
colonial  government  purged  themselves  of  all  complicity 


'Massachusetts  Colonial  Records,  i,  37. 
"Ibid,  i,  145. 
•Ibid,  i,  146. 


56  Roger  Williams 

in  this  unfortunate  affair.  But,  politic  as  they  were,  they 
were  not  to  escape  trouble  in  England,  as  the  result  of 
this  teaching  of  Williams.  At  the  same  hastily  called 
meeting  of  the  governor  and  assistants,  at  the  governor's 
house,  on  the  twenty-seventh  day  of  November,  1634, 
after  the  matter  of  the  mutilation  of  the  colors  had  been 
considered,    Governor   Winthrop   records: 

It  was  likewise  informed  that  Mr.  Williams  of  Salem  had 
broken  his  promise  to  us,  in  teaching  publickly  against  the 
king's  patent,  and  our  great  sin  in  claiming  right  thereby  to 
this  country,  etc.,  and  for  usual  terming  the  churches  of  England 
antichristian.  We  granted  summons  to  him  for  his  appearance 
at  the  next  court.1 

A  storm  was  gathering  which  presaged  distress  if  not 
destruction  to  the  colony.  Genuine  alarm  now  began  to 
be  felt  among  the  magistracy,  concerning  the  possible 
results  of  those  teachings.  The  episode  of  the  cross  had 
been  promptly  denounced  by  the  colony;  but  yet  Will- 
iams had  very  many  adherents  at  Salem.  "Divers  of 
the  weaker  sort  of  church  members,"  it  is  recorded,  "had 
been  thoroughly  leavened  with  his  opinions."*  The  col- 
ony, as  we  shall  presently  see,  had  been  passing  through 
a  critical  period  in  its  existence,  and  the  utmost  care  must 
be  exercised,  lest  traitors  to  the  colonial  government  should 
enter  the  ranks  of  the  magistracy.  Numbers  of  new- 
comers were  constantly  arriving  and  taking  up  their  homes 
among  them,  people  concerning  whose  antecedents  they 
knew  nothing.  Anticipating  this  storm,  it  had  been  de- 
termined, in  May,  1634,  that  an  oath  of  fidelity  to  the 
colony  should  be  established,  to  which  all  should  be  asked 
to  subscribe.     It  was  a  prudent  step  to  take  and  one 


xWinthrop,  i,  180. 
'Hubbard,  ii,  207. 


A  Political  Pioneer  57 

which  was  essential  to  the  well  being  and  stability  of  the 
colonial  government. 

To  require  an  oath  of  fidelity  of  the  freemen  of  the  col- 
ony was  no  new  feature  in  its  government.  Almost  from  its 
foundation  an  oath  of  this  nature  had  been  required,  and, 
indeed,  the  name  of  Roger  Williams  himself  appears  upon 
the  list  of  admitted  freemen  who  took  and  subscribed 
to  the  freeman's  oath,  on  the  eighteenth  day  of  May, 
1631.  The  name  of  Samuel  Skelton,  Mr.  Williams' 
predecessor  in  the  pastorate  at  Salem,  appears  in  the 
same  list.  The  new  oath,  which  was  adopted  May  14, 
1634,  was  more  searching  in  its  terms  than  that  at  first 
employed  and  was  in  these  words: 

THE  OATH  OF  FREEMEN  AGREED  UPON  ATT  the 
GENERAL  COURT,  May  14,  1634. 

I,  A.B.,  being  by  God's  pvidence  an  inhabitant  &  ffreeman 
within  the  jurisdiccon  of  this  comon  weale,  doe  ffreely  acknow- 
ledge myself  subject  to  the  goument  thereof,  &  therefore  doe 
sweare  by  the  greate  and  dreadfull  name  of  the  euer  lyveing 
God  that  I  wil  be  true  &  faithful  to  the  same,  &  will  accord- 
ingly yeild  assistance  &  support  therevnto,  with  my  pson  & 
estate,  as  in  equitie  I  am  bound  &  will  also  truely  indeavr, 
to  mayntaine  &  preserue  all  the  liberties  &  previlidges  there- 
of, submitting  my  selfe  to  the  wholesome  lawes  made  & 
established  by  the  same;  and  further,  that  I  will  not  plott  nor 
practice  any  euill  against  it,  nor  consent  to  any  that  shall  soe 
doe,  but  will  tymely  discouer  &  reveale  the  same  to  lawfull 
aucthority  nowe  here  established  for  the  speedy  preventing 
thereof.  Moreover  I  doe  solemnly  bind  my  selfe  in  the  sight 
of  God  that  when  I  shal  be  called  to  giue  my  voyce  touching 
any  such  matter  of  this  state,  wherein  ffreemen  are  to  deale, 
I  will  give  my  vote  &  suffrage  as  I  shall  judge  best  to  conduce 
&  tend  to  the  publique  weale  of  the  body,  without  respect  of 

•Massachusetts  Colonial  Records,  i,  117. 


58  Roger  Williams 

psons  or  favr  of  any  man.  Soe  helpe  mee  God  in  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.1 

As  soon  as  this  plan  was  adopted  Williams  saw  a  fresh 
subject  for  controversy  and  he  attacked  this  new  order 
with  all  the  vigor  shown  in  his  movement  against  the 
patent.  It  was  not  lawful,  he  declared  with  vehemence, 
to  require  an  oath  as  a  test  of  fidelity,  for  it  was  Christ's 
prerogative  alone  to  have  his  office  established  by  an  oath 
and  because  an  oath  is  a  part  of  God's  worship,  and  God's 
worship  is  not  to  be  put  upon  carnal  persons.  An  oath, 
he  declared,  is  a  form  of  prayer,  and  it  is  not  lawful  for  an 
unregenerate  person  to  pray.  Neither,  he  insisted,  is  it 
lawful  for  a  godly  man  to  have  communion,  either  in 
family  prayer,  or  in  an  oath,  with  such  as  he  regards  un- 
regenerate.1 

In  this  attack  upon  the  custom  of  administering  oaths, 
it  will  be  observed  that  Williams  maintained  a  thorough 
consistency;  for  we  have  already  seen  that  he  had,  at  one 
time  in  his  life,  submitted  to  the  loss  of  considerable 
money,  in  the  chancery  courts  in  England,  rather  than 
submit  himself  to  the  imposition  of  a  judicial  oath;  and 
yet,  that  he  did  take  the  freeman's  oath,  in  May,  1631, 
more  than  a  year  after  his  arrival  at  Boston,  affords  a 
puzzle  not  readily  solved.2 


Wagnalia  Christi  Americana,  ii,  507. 
Massachusetts  Colonial  Records,  i,  appendix. 


CHAPTER  IV 

It  will  be  useful,  at  this  point,  to  consider  the  political 
status  of  the  Colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  and  its  rela- 
tions to  the  home  government  at  this  period.  Allusion  has 
already  been  made  to  the  fact  that  this  was  a  critical  period 
in  the  history  of  the  colony.  The  reader  has  already 
noted  the  care  which  was  taken  by  Winthrop  and  the 
magistrates  to  avert  from  themselves  the  suspicion  of 
disloyalty,  especially  in  the  matter  of  Endecott's  undoubt- 
edly treasonable  act  of  mutilation  of  the  national  colors. 
Winthrop  has  given  the  clew  to  the  situation  where  he 
records,  under  date  of  February  22,  1632,  the  arrival  of 
the  ship  William,  and  says:  — 

By  this  ship  we  had  intelligence  from  our  friends  in  England 
that  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges  and  Capt.  Mason,  (upon  the  in- 
stigation of  Sir  Christopher  Gardiner,  Morton  and  Ratcliff) 
had  preferred  a  petition  to  the  lords  of  the  privy  council,  charg- 
ing us  with  many  false  accusations;  but  through  the  Lord's 
good  providence  and  the  care  of  our  friends  in  England,  (es- 
pecially Mr.  Emanuel  Downing,  who  had  married  the  gover- 
nour's  sister,  and  the  good  testimony  given  on  our  behalf  by 
one  Capt.  Wiggin  who  dwelt  at  Pascataquack  and  had  been 
divers  times  among  us)  their  malicious  practice  took  not  effect. 
The  principal  matter  they  had  against  us  was  the  letters  of  some 
indiscreet  person  among  us,  who  had  written  against  the  church 
government  in  England,  etc.,  which  had  been  intercepted  by 
occasion  of  the  death  of  Capt.  Leavitt,  who  carried  them,  and 
died  at  sea.1 

Some  months  later  arrived  the  vessels    William    and 


•Winthrop  i,  110. 


60  Roger  Williams 

Jane,  and  Mary  and  Jane,  bearing  letters  from  the 
home  country.     Again,  Winthrop  records  :-- 

By  these  ships  we  understood  that  Sir  Christopher  Gardiner 
and  Thomas  Morton  and  Philip  Ratcliffe  (who  had  been  pun- 
ished here  for  their  misdemeanours)  had  petitioned  to  the  king 
and  council  against  us  (being  set  on  by  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges 
and  Capt.  Mason,  who  had  begun  a  plantation  at  Pascataquack 
and  aimed  at  the  general  government  of  New  England  for  their 
agent  there,  Capt.  Neal).  The  petition  was  of  many  sheets  of 
paper,  and  contained  many  false  accusations,  (and  among  them 
some  truths  misrepeated)  accusing  us  to  intend  rebellion,  to 
have  cast  off  our  allegiance  and  to  be  wholly  separate  from  the 
church  and  laws  of  England;  that  our  ministers  and  people  did 
continually  rail  against  the  State,  church  and  bishops  there,  etc. 
Upon  which,  such  of  our  company  as  were  there  in  England, 
viz:  Sir  Richard  Saltonstall,  Mr.  Humfry  and  Mr.  Cradock  were 
called  before  a  committee  of  the  council,  to  whom  they  delivered 
in  an  answer  in  writing;  upon  reading  whereof,  it  pleased  the 
Lord,  our  gracious  God  and  Protector,  so  to  work  with  the  lords, 
and  after  with  the  King's  majesty,  when  the  whole  matter  was 
reported  to  him  by  Sir  Thomas  Jermin,  one  of  the  council,  (but 
not  of  the  committee,  who  yet  had  been  present  at  the  three  days 
of  hearing,  and  spake  much  in  the  commendation  of  the  gover- 
nour,  both  to  the  lords  and  after  to  his  majesty:)  that  he  said  he 
would  have  them  severely  punished,  who  did  abuse  his  governour 
and  the  plantation;  that  the  defendants  were  dismissed  with  a 
favourable  order  for  their  encouragement,  being  assured  from 
some  of  the  council,  that  his  majesty  did  not  intend  to  impose  the 
ceremonies  of  the  Church  of  England  upon  us;  for  that  it  was 
considered  that  it  was  the  freedom  from  such  things  that  made 
people  come  over  to  us;  and  it  was  credibly  informed  to  the 
council  that  this  country  would,|in  time,  be  very  beneficial  to 
England  for  masts,  cordage,  etc.,  if  the  Sound  should  be  de- 
barred.1 

The  story  of  this  attack  upon  the  integrity  of  the  char- 

^inthrop,  i,  122. 


A  Political  Pioneer  61 

ter  and  the  result  of  the  hearing  by  the  privy  council,  is 
told  in  greater  detail  by  Governor  Winthrop,  in  a  letter 
addressed  to  Governor  Bradford,  in  which  he  encloses 
a  copy  of  the  order  of  the  council. 

John  Wintheop  to  William  Beadfoed 
Sir:— 

Upon  a  petition  exhibited  by  Sr:  Christo.  Gardener,  Sr:  Ferd. 
Gorges,  Captaine  Masson,  &c.,  against  you  and  us,  the  cause 
was  heard  before  ye  lords  of  ye  privy  counsell  and  after  reported 
to  ye  king,  the  success  wherof  maks  it  evident  to  all,  that  ye 
Lord  hath  care  of  his  people  hear.  The  passages  are  admirable 
and  too  long  to  write.  I  hartily  wish  an  opportunitie  to  im- 
parte  them  unto  you,  being  many  sheets  of  paper.  But  ye  con- 
clusion was  (against  all  mens  expectation)  an  order  for  our 
incouragemente  and  much  blame  and  disgrace  upon  ye  adver- 
saries, -w°h  calls  for  much  thankfulnes  from  us  all,  which  we 
purpose  (ye  Lord  willing)  to  express  in  a  day  of  thanksgiving 
to  our  mercifull  God,  (I  doubt  not  but  you  will  consider  if  it 
be  not  fitt  for  you  to  joyne  in  it,)  who,  as  he  hath  humbled  us 
by  his  late  correction,  so  he  hath  lifted  us  up,  by  an  abundante 
rejoycing,  in  our  deliverance  out  of  so  desperate  a  danger;  so 
as  that  w0*1  our  enemies  builte  their  hopes  upon  to  mine  us  by, 
He  hath  mercifully  disposed  to  our  great  advantage,  as  I  shall 
further  aquainte  you,  when  occasion  shall  serve. 
The  coppy  of  ye  order  follows: 

At  ye  courte  held  at  White-hall  ye  19.  Jan:  1632. 

Present. 
SIGILLUM.     Lord  Privy  Seal  Lord  Cottinton 

Ea:ofDorsett  Mr.  Trer 

Lo :  Vi :  Falkland  Mr.  Vic  Chambr 

Lo:  Bp:  of  London         Mr.  Sec:  Cooke 
Maister  Sec:  Windebanck 

Wheras  his  MaUe  hath  latly  been  informed  of  great  dis- 
traction and  much  disorder  in  yt  plantation  in  ye  parts  of  Am- 
erica called  New  England,  which,  if  they  be  true  &  suffered  to 


62  Roger  Williams 

rune  on,  would  tende  to  ye  great  dishonour  of  this  kingdome, 
and  utter  ruine  of  that  plantation.  For  prevention  wherof  and 
for  ye  orderly  settling  of  government,  according  to  ye  intention 
of  those  patents  which  have  been  granted  by  his  Matie  and  from 
his  late  royall  father  King  James,  it  hath  pleased  his  Matie  that 
ye  lords  &  others  of  his  most  honorable  Privie  counsel),  should 
take  ye  same  into  consideration,  their  lordships  in  ye  first  place 
thought  fitt  to  make  a  comitie  of  this  bord,  to  take  examination 
of  ye  matters  informed;  which  comitties  having  called  diverse 
of  ye  prineipall  adventures  in  yt  plantation,  and  heard  those 
that  are  complanants  against  them,  most  of  the  things  informed 
being  denyed  and  resting  to  be  proved  by  parties  that  must  be 
called  from  yt  place,  which  required  a  long  expence  of  time;  and 
at  presente  their  lordships  finding  the  adventurers  were  upon 
dispatch  of  men,  victles  and  marchandice  for  yt  place,  all  of 
which  would  be  at  a  stand,  if  ye  adventurers  should  have  dis- 
couragemente,  or  take  suspition  that  the  state  hear  had  no  good 
opinion  of  yt  plantation;  their  lordships,  not  laying  the  faulte 
or  fancies  (if  any  be)  of  some  perticuler  men  upon  the  generall 
governmente,  or  prineipall  adventurers,  (which  in  due  time  is 
further  to  be  inquired  into)  have  thought  fitt  in  ye  meane  time 
to  declare,  that  the  appearences  were  so  faire  and  hopes  so 
greate,  yt  the  countrie  would  prove  both  beneficiall  to  this 
kingdom,  and  profitable  to  ye  perticular  adventurers,  as  yt  the 
adventurers  had  cause  to  goe  on  cherfully  with  their  under- 
takings and  rest  assured,  if  things  were  carried  as  was  pre- 
tended when  ye  patents  were  granted,  and  accordingly  as  by 
the  patentes  it  is  appointed,  his  Majestie  would  not  only  uiain- 
taine  the  liberties  &  privileges  heretofore  granted,  but  supply 
any  thing  further  that  might  tend  to  the  good  governmente,  and 
prosperitie,  and  comforte  of  his  people  ther  of  that  place,  &c. 

William  Trumball.  * 

The  story  of  the  dream  of  empire,  indulged  in  by  Sir 
Ferdinando  Gorges,  for  more  than  a  score  of  years,  and 


^Bradford,  355-357. 


A  Political  Pioneer  63 

of  the  final  extinguishment  of  his  hopes,  has,  long  ago, 
passed  into  history.  Gorges,  who  had  lain  under  a  heavy 
cloud,  during  the  latter  portion  of  the  reign  of  Elizabeth, 
at  her  death  and  the  accession  of  James  II,  having  al- 
ready been  released  from  prison,  was  restored  to  his  former 
position  as  military  governor  of  Plymouth  (England). 
In  1605  one  Capt.  Weymouth  returned  to  England  from 
a  voyage  to  the  coast  of  Maine  and  Massachusetts,  from 
whence  he  brought  several  Indians,  to  be  sold  as  slaves. 
Meeting  Capt.  Weymouth,  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges  learned 
from  him  much  concerning  the  character  of  the  region 
which  was  called  by  the  name  of  New  England.  The 
Indians,  too,  interested  him,  they  having  been  left  in  his 
charge,  and  from  them  he,  perhaps,  learned  something 
of  the  nature  of  the  country  and  its  resources.  In  his 
mind  arose  the  vision  of  a  great  province,  of  which  he 
should  be  the  governor-general,  and  from  which  he  should 
reap  a  fortune  in  wealth  and  glory.  He  had  a  natural 
love  of  adventure  and  the  thought,  thus  suggested  to  his 
mind,  was  ever  present  with  him.  In  his  dreams  Gorges 
saw  forests,  crowded  to  the  full  with  deer,  elk  and  wild 
birds;  lakes  and  streams  teeming  with  fish;  a  country 
where  mines  of  gold  and  silver  and  precious  stones,  rich 
and  rare,  were  only  too  easy  of  access. 

In  1606  were  granted  the  charters  of  the  London,  and 
of  the  Plymouth  Companies,  and  Gorges,  attaching  to 
his  interests  Sir  John  Popham,  a  man  of  wealth,  position 
and  influence,  connected  himself  with  the  latter  company. 
It  is  evident  that  the  company,  as  such,  beyond  obtaining 
a  grant  of  land,  between  the  forty-first  and  the  forty-fifth 
degrees  of  North  latitude,  made  little  use  of  its  charter. 
Exploring  parties  were  sent  out,  both  by  Popham  and 
Gorges,  and,  in  1607,  an  attempt  was  made  at  coloniza- 
tion near  the  mouth  of  the  Kennebec  River.  This  attempt 


64  Roger  Williams 

survived  but  a  few  months.  Thereafter,  until  1620,  Gor- 
ges was  continually  employed  in  adventures  on  the  New 
England  coast,  sending  out  fishing  and  trading  companies 
and  once  even  fitting  out  an  expedition  to  search  for  gold 
on  Martha's  Vineyard.  None  of  those  ventures  was 
productive  of  great  returns,  and  Sir  Ferdinando,  at  the 
end  of  fourteen  years,  except  in  the  acquisition  of  expe- 
rience, was  no  better  off  than  at  the  beginning.  All  his 
attempts  at  colonization  had  proved  futile  and  the  profits 
of  the  fishing  and  trading  expeditions  were  all  absorbed 
in  these  abortive  efforts. 

In  1620  Gorges,  unwilling  to  abandon  his  idea,  and 
still  consumed  with  the  brilliant  thought  of  a  great  prov- 
ince, over  which  he  should  rule,  succeeded  in  infusing 
something  of  his  enthusiasm  into  the  minds  of  the  king 
and  court.  At  all  events,  a  large  number  of  men  of  the 
peerage,  including  the  Duke  of  Lenox,  Lords  Bucking- 
ham, Pembroke  and  others  were  willing  to  lend  their 
names  to  a  new  enterprise  in  America.  It  does  not  ap- 
pear that  they  invested  large  sums  of  money  in  the  proj- 
ect, or  entered  to  any  considerable  extent  into  its  manage- 
ment. A  new  patent  was  granted  by  James,  under  the 
title  of  "The  Council  Established  at  Plymouth,  in  the 
County  of  Devon,  for  the  Planting,  Ruling,  Ordering 
and  Governing  of  New  England  in  America."  The  com- 
pany was  colloquially  known  as  "The  Council  for  New 
England."  The  grant  covered  an  empire  in  extent, 
stretching  from  the  present  site  of  Philadelphia,  north- 
ward to  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Lawrence  River,  and  west- 
ward to  the  Pacific  Ocean.  It  must  be  remembered 
however,  that  no  conception  then  existed  of  the  immense 
sweep  of  territory  which  lies  between  the  Atlantic  and 
the  Pacific  seaboards. 

Three  years  were  passed  in  attempts,  on  the  part  of 


A  Political  Pioneer  65 

Gorges,  to  excite  an  interest  in  the  minds  of  the  noble 
patentees,  in  the  project  of  establishing  a  colony  in  New 
England,  and  to  induce  them  to  contribute  of  their  sub- 
stance to  insure  its  final  success.  Meanwhile,  the  patent 
itself  was  antagonized  by  the  parliament  of  1621,  and 
by  the  rapidly  growing  Puritan  sentiment  of  the  country. 
Robert  Gorges,  the  son  of  Sir  Ferdinando,  had  received 
from  the  Council  for  New  England  a  patent  to  a  tract  of 
land  in  the  vicinity  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  but  he  had 
not  immediately  gone  out  to  take  possession  of,  and  rule 
over,  his  dukedom. 

In  June,  1623,  an  attempt  was  made  by  Gorges  to  re- 
vive the  moribund  interest  in  his  project,  in  the  minds 
of  his  titled  associates,  and  a  proposition  was  made  to 
parcel  out  to  the  patentees,  by  lot,  the  territory  covered 
by  the  patent.  A  meeting  of  the  Council  for  New  Eng- 
land was  held,  at  which  King  James  himself  was  present 
and  drew  the  lot  for  the  absent  Buckingham.  To  Sir 
Ferdinando  fell  the  region  of  Maine,  and  to  Robert  Gorges 
was  allotted,  in  general,  the  region  already  covered  by 
his  patent,  the  region  in  which  it  had  been  determined 
that  a  fresh  attempt  at  settlement  should  be  made. 

Three  years  before  this  remarkable  meeting  of  the 
Council  for  New  England,  a  settlement  had  been  made  in 
New  England,  within  the  limits  of  the  grant  to  the  Plym- 
outh Company,  but  not  at  the  instigation  of  Gorges. 
The  Mayflower  had  reached  Cape  Cod,  and  the  harbor 
beyond,  almost  upon  the  exact  date  of  the  signing  of  the 
charter  of  that  company.  The  Pilgrims  had  endeavored 
to  obtain  a  charter  from  King  James,  but  in  vain;  and, 
during  their  voyage,  the  territory  upon  which  it  was 
afterwards  their  lot  to  settle,  was  granted  to  a  company, 
whose  only  object  was  speculation  and  adventure.  This 
settlement  within  the  territory  under  his  nominal  control 


66  Roger  Williams 

found  no  opposition  in  the  mind  of  Gorges,  but  rather 
was  welcomed  by  him;  and  from  the  Plymouth  Company 
the  settlers  at  Plymouth  obtained  the  patent  which  had, 
a  few  months  before,  been  denied  by  the  king. 

Another  settlement,  a  failure,  as  it  afterwards  proved, 
was  begun,  in  1622,  within  the  territory  covered  by  the 
Plymouth  Company's  grant,  and,  no  doubt,  within  that 
covered  by  the  patent  of  Robert  Gorges.  This  attempt 
also  was  made  without  the  co-operation  of  Gorges,  and, 
indeed,  a  year  previous  to  the  meeting  of  the  Council  for 
New  England,  at  which  the  territory  was  parcelled  to  the 
patentees  by  lot.  This  was  the  somewhat  famous  settle- 
ment of  Thomas  and  Andrew  Weston  at  Wessagusset,  on 
the  south  shore  of  Massachusetts  Bay  and  near  the  pres- 
ent town  of  Weymouth.  This  settlement  was  established 
mainly  as  a  trading  post.  The  settlers  here  were  not  of 
such  character  as  would  ensure  success  in  such  an  under- 
taking; yet  it  is  not  to  be  presumed  that  Gorges  in  any 
wise  discouraged  this  attempt  at  settlement  within  his 
territory.  Its  failure,  after  a  year  or  two  of  distress  and 
disorder,  was  but  a  type  of  subsequent  attempts  made 
by  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges,  or  under  his  auspices,  to  build 
up  the  great  province  of  which  he,  for  so  many  years,  had 
dreamed  as  under  his  sway. 

A  company  which  went  out  in  1623,  under  the  lead- 
ership of  Robert  Gorges,  to  form  a  new  settlement  upon 
the  site  of  Weston's  attempt,  was  composed  of  far  better 
material  for  such  an  adventure  than  was  Weston's  com- 
pany. And  yet,  it  was  no  more  successful;  the  attempt 
was  abandoned  after  a  winter  of  great  severity,  and  Rob- 
ert Gorges  himself  died,  soon  after  his  return  to  England. 
The  Reverend  William  Morell,  whom  Gorges  left  behind, 
with  a  few  followers,  met  with  no  better  success.  The 
trading  posts  in  the  Kennebec  region  came  to  little  and 


A  Political  Pioneer  67 

at  the  last,  when  the  influence  of  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges 
on  the  New  England  coast  was  waning  to  its  setting,  Will- 
iam Blackstone,  in  his  cabin  on  the  hills  of  Shawmut; 
Thomas  Walford,  in  his  rude  house  at  Mishawum  (Charles- 
town);  Samuel  Maverick,  in  his  strong  house  at  Winnis- 
immet;  David  Thomson  on  his  island  in  the  bay;  and 
two  or  three  settlers  who  still  lingered  in  the  house  erected 
by  Weston,  at  Wessagusset,  alone  remained  as  the  fruition 
of  the  dreams  of  Gorges. 

In  1628  the  Council  for  New  England  granted  a  patent 
for  a  settlement  near  Massachusetts  Bay  to  John  Endecott 
and  his  company.  Not  long  after,  John  Gorges,  a  brother 
of  Robert,  to  whom  had  reverted  the  claims  of  that  adven- 
turer in  New  England,  granted  a  patent  to  territory  in 
the  same  region  to  John  Oldham.  Endecott  and  his 
associates,  who  had  already  settled  at  Salem,  were  fear- 
ful of  a  serious  complication  of  interests.  Charles  I  being 
now  king,  Endecott,  thinking,  perhaps,  that  the  influence 
of  the  Council  for  New  England  might  be  waning  in 
England,  sought  a  royal  charter.  Through  the  influence 
of  John  Winthrop,  Matthew  Cradock  and  others,  aided 
by  Lord  Dorchester,  this  effort  was  successful  and,  on 
the  fourth  of  March,  1629,  the  charter  of  the  Colony  of 
Massachusetts  Bay  was  signed.  The  claims  of  Gorges 
were  now  superseded;  and  the  colonists  thenceforth  were 
never  at  a  loss  to  know  where  to  look  for  a  bitter  enemy. 
So  long  as  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges  lived  all  that  he  was 
able  to  do  for  the  injury  of  the  new  Puritan  plantations 
in  New  England,  was  done  with  a  full  heart.  A  sadly 
disappointed  man,  he  was  forced  to  see  a  flourishing 
colony,  in  which  he  had  no  part,  numbering  nearly  a 
score  of  towns  and  villages,  spring  up  in  and  about  the 
beautiful  harbor,  of  which  he  had  long  dreamed  as  the 
site  of  his  principality. 


68  Roger  Williams 

His  sense  of  injury  was  in  no  wise  lessened  in  the  fact 
that  these  successful  colonists  were  Puritans.  A  cavalier 
of  the  cavaliers,  he  had  long  been  held  in  distrust  by  the 
Puritans.  This  feeling  of  hostility  Gorges  recognized 
and  fully  returned.  What  wonder,  then,  that  he  was 
willing  to  lose  no  opportunity  to  harass  and,  if  it  might  be 
possible,  to  overthrow  the  Puritan  theocracy,  which  had 
arisen  at  the  mouth  of  the  Charles.  As  James  I  said  of 
the  Puritans  of  England:  "I  will  make  them  conform, 
or  I  will  harry  them  out  of  the  land",  so  also  did  Sir 
Ferdinando  declare  within  himself,  but  with  no  reserva- 
tion, that  he  would  harry  these  people  out  of  Massachu- 
setts Bay,  if  intrigue,  and  influence  at  court  could  be  made 
to  serve  as  his  successful  weapons. 

Thus,  briefly,  have  been  sketched  the  chief  events  of 
the  career  of  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges,  in  his  attempts  to 
settle  New  England.  Although  it  is  doubtful  if  Gorges 
would  ever  have  been  able  to  carry  his  plans  of  empire 
to  fruition,  even  if  the  Puritan  settlement  had  not  been 
made,  he  ever  regarded  the  granting  of  the  charter  of  the 
Colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  and  the  successful  es- 
tablishment of  a  settlement  under  it,  as  the  death  blow 
to  his  ambition. 

John  Mason,  to  whom  also  Winthrop  alludes,  in  his 
entry  quoted,  as  being  associated  with  Gorges  in  the 
attack  upon  the  charter,  was  a  character  deserving  of 
mention.  We  first  hear  of  him  as  having  been  sent  out 
by  the  Plymouth  Company,  as  an  agent  in  charge  of  a 
plantation  which  was  attempted,  in  1615,  in  Newfound- 
land. Seven  years  later,  he  appears  as  a  patentee,  jointly 
with  Gorges,  to  a  tract  of  land  lying  between  the  Kennebec 
and  the  Merrimac  rivers.  Various  conflicting  interests 
appeared,  for  grants  of  land  were  made  very  loosely,  in 
those  days.     Notably,  the  Endecott  patent  overlapped, 


A  Political  Pioneer  69 

in  territory,  the  Mason  grant.  In  1629  Mason's  grant 
was  confirmed  to  the  land  lying  between  theaMerrimac  and 
Piscataqua  rivers,  and  extending  from  the  Atlantic  to  the 
Pacific  oceans.  Throughout  their  careers  as  promoters 
of  settlements  in  New  England,  Gorges  and  Mason  acted 
in  harmony,  and  always  as  ^antagonists  to  the  interests 
of  the  Puritan  settlers.  They  were  able  to  command 
not  a  little  influence  at  court.  There  were  many  about 
Whitehall,  enemies  of  the  New  England  colonists  and 
their  fellow  religionists,  who  were  ever  ready  to  listen 
to  the  tongue  of  slander  and  to  report  its  whisperings, 
never  lessened  in  transmission,  into  the  ear  of  royalty. 
In  this  connection  it  is  useful,  also,  to  recall  again  the 
case  of  the  deported  brothers  Browne,  the  Salem  Epis- 
copalians, who  had  busied  themselves  in  England,  in 
telling  their  own  story  of  their  expulsion,  and  had  put  in 
circulation  rumors  regarding  the  alleged  intemperate  atti- 
tude of  the  colonial  ministers  and  teachers,  toward  the 
Church  of  England,  as  expressed  in  their  sermons  and 
prayers.  And  now,  anew,  came  to  the  ears  of  the  king 
the  continued  complaints  of  Gorges  and  of  Mason,  and, 
inspired  by  them,  the  accusations  of  Sir  Christopher 
Gardiner,  Thomas  Morton  and  Philip  Ratcliff. 

Who,  then,  were  these  three  worthies  who  were  thus 
making  known  at  court  their  grievances  and  aiming  at 
the  revocation  of  the  charter  of  the  Colony  of  Massachu- 
setts Bay?  A  sketch  of  their  careers  in  New  England 
will  not  be  unprofitable,  as  showing  the  animus  which 
impelled  this  hostility  toward  the  young  colony.  Sii 
Christopher  Gardiner  is  a  character  unique  in  the  history 
of  the  New  England  colonies.  He  appeared  suddenly  in 
these  parts,  in  1631,  at  about  the  time  that  the  Arbella, 
with  Winthrop  and  his  company  on  board,  dropped  anchor 
in  Salem  harbor.     He  announced  himself  to  the  colo- 


70  Roger  Williams 

nists,  when  they  arrived,  as  a  knight  of  the  "Order  of 
the  Golden  Melice";  and  he  built  him  a  dwelling  near 
the  south  bank  of  the  Neponset  river  and  not  far  from 
its  mouth.  Here  he  dwelt,  in  company  with  a  young 
woman,  whom  he  represented  to  be  his  cousin  and  house- 
keeper. He  resided  in  considerable  state,  with  servants 
and,  evidently,  well  provided  with  such  comforts  as  the 
wilderness  made  it  possible  for  him  to  enjoy.  Here  the 
Plymouth  people  found  him  and,  finding  so  fine  a  gentle- 
man, and  a  pretty  young  woman,  dwelling  thus  apart 
from  civilization,  it  is  little  wonder  that  their  curiosity 
was  excited. 

Sir  Christopher  would  appear  to  have  been  somewhat 
reticent  regarding  his  object  in  thus  settling  in  the  wilder- 
ness, merely  explaining  his  presence  as  being  due  to  a 
desire  to  withdraw  from  the  wearisome  turmoil  and  strife 
of  life  in  England.  The  suspicions  of  the  magistrates 
of  the  Plymouth  Colony  and  of  those  of  Massachusetts 
Bay  were  aroused  concerning  him,  suspicions  that  were 
destined  soon  to  be  realized.  In  less  than  a  year  after 
the  arrival  of  Winthrop  and  his  company,  letters  were 
received  which  confirmed  their  worst  fears  concerning 
Sir  Christopher.  Two  women,  each  claiming  to  be  his 
wife,  had  been  successively  abandoned  by  him,  and  both 
had  been  left  behind  when  he  had  sailed  for  the  New 
World;  and  his  present  companion,  so  the  magistrates 
were  credibly  informed,  was  a  young  woman  of  doubtful 
reputation  named  Mary  Grove.  It  was,  accordingly 
resolved,  in  February,  1631,  to  return  Sir  Christopher  to 
England,  by  the  ship  Lyon,  which  was  soon  to  sail. 

Sir  Christopher,  becoming  aware  of  the  design  of  the 
magistrates,  kept  a  careful  watch,  and  when  he  saw  the 
officers  emerging  from  the  woods  and  preparing  to  cross 
the  river  near  his  house,  he  girded  on  his  rapier,  threw 


A  Political  Pioneer  71 

his  gun  over  his  shoulder,  and  hastily  fled  into  the  wilder- 
ness. After  some  days  of  wandering  he  was  captured 
by  a  party  of  Indians,  after  a  struggle,  and  delivered 
into  the  custody  of  the  authorities  of  the  Plymouth  Colony. 
Later  he  was  delivered  over  to  the  custody  of  the  Bay 
Colony,  by  the  hands  of  Captain  John  Underhill.  This 
was  in  the  early  spring  of  1631. 

Governor  Bradford's  account  of  the  coming  of  Sir 
Christopher,  of  the  suspicions  concerning  him,  and  of 
his  arrest  and  delivery  into  the  custody  of  the  magistrate 
of  the  Bay  is  quaint  and  interesting: 

This  year  [1631]  on  Sir  Christopher  Gardener  being,  as  him- 
selfe  said,  descended  of  yt  house  yt  the  Bishop  of  Winchester 
came  of  (who  was  so  great  a  persecutor  of  God's  saincts  in 
Queene  Marie's  days)  and  being  a  great  traveler,  received  his 
first  honour  of  Knighthood  at  Jerusalem,  being  made  Knight 
of  ye  Sepulcher  ther.  He  came  into  these  parts  under  pretence 
of  forsaking  ye  world  and  to  live  a  private  life,  in  a  godly  course, 
not  unwilling  to  put  him  selfe  upon  any  meane  imployments  and 
take  any  paines  for  his  living;  and  some  time  offered  him  selfe 
to  joyne  to  ye  churches  in  sundry  places.  He  brought  over 
with  him  a  servant  or  2  and  a  comly  younge  woman, whom  he  cald 
his  cousin,  but  it  was  suspected  she  (after  ye  Italian  manner) 
was  his  concubine.  Living  at  ye  Massachusets,  for  some 
miscariages  which  he  should  have  answered,  he  fled  away  from 
authority  and  gott  among  ye  Indeans  of  these  parts;  they  sent 
after  him,  but  could  not  gett  him,  and  promissed  some  reward 
to  those  yt  should  find  him.  The  Indeans  came  to  ye  Govt  here 
and  tould  wher  he  was,  and  asked  if  they  might  kill  him;  he 
tould  them  no,  by  no  means,  but  if  they  could  take  him  and 
bring  him  hither,  they  should  be  payd  for  their  painse.  They  said 
he  had  a  gune  and  a  rapier,  &  he  would  kill  them  if  yey  went 
aboute  it;  and  ye  Massachusets  Indeans  said  they  might  kille 
him.  But  ye  Govt  tould  them  no,  they  should  not  kill  him,  but 
watch  their  opportunitie  &  take  him.   And  so  they  did,  for  where 


72  Roger  Williams 

they  light  of  him  by  a  river  side,  he  got  into  a  canowe  to  get 
from  them  &  when  they  came  nere  him,  whilst  he  presented 
his  peece  at  them  to  keep  them  of,  the  streame  carried  ye  canow 
against  a  rock  and  tumbled  both  him  &  his  peece  &  rapier  into 
ye  water;  yet  he  got  out  and  having  a  litle  dagger  by  his  side 
they  durst  not  close  with  him,  but  getting  longe  pols  they  soone 
beat  his  dagger  out  of  his  hand,  so  he  was  glad  to  yeeld;  and 
they  brought  him  to  ye  Govt.  But  his  hands  and  armes  were 
swolen  &  very  sore  with  ye  blowes  that  they  had  given  him.  So 
he  used  him  kindly,  &  sent  him  to  a  lodging  wher  his  armes 
were  bathed  and  anoynted  and  he  was  quickly  well  againe,  and 
blamed  ye  Indeans  for  beating  him  so  much.  They  said  that 
they  did  but  a  litle  whip  him  with  sticks.  In  his  lodging, 
those  yt  made  his  bed  found  a  litle  note  booke  that  by  accident 
had  slipt  out  of  his  pockett,or  some  private  place,  in  which  was 
a  memoriall  what  day  he  was  reconciled  to  ye  pope  &  church  of 
Rome,  and  in  what  universitie  he  took  his  scapula,  and  such 
and  such  degrees.  It  being  brought  to  ye  Govt,  he  kept  it,  and 
sent  ye  Govt  of  ye  Massachusets  word  of  his  taking,  who  sent 
for  him.  So  ye  Govt  sent  him  and  these  notes  to  ye  Govt  ther 
who  took  it  very  thankfully;  but  after  he  gott  for  England,  he 
showed  his  malice,  but  God  prevented  him.1 

Concerning  the  delivery  of  Sir  Christopher  to  the  au- 
thorities of  the  Bay  Colony,  Governor  Winthrop  thus 
wrote  Governor  Bradford,  of  the  Plymouth  Colony. 
It  would  appear  from  a  passage  in  this  letter  that  Gov- 
ernor Bradford  had  used  his  good  offices  with  Governor 
Winthrop,  to  the  end  that  the  prisoner  might  be  kindly 
used.2 

John  Winthrop  to  William  Bradford 

Sm: — It  hath  pleased  God  to  bring  Sr.  Christopher  Gardner 
safe  to  us,  with  thos  that  came  with  him.  And  howsoever  I 
never  intended  any  hard  measure  to  him,  but  to  respecte  and  use 


^Bradford,  352. 
Bradford,  354. 


A  Political  Pioneer  73 

him  according  to  his  qualitie,  yet  I  let  him  know  your  care  of 
him,  and  yt  he  shall  speed  ye  better  for  your  mediation.  It  was 
a  speciall  providence  of  God  to  bring  these  notes  of  his  to  our 
hands;  I  desire  yt  you  will  please  to  speak  to  all  yt  are  privie  to 
them,  not  to  discovere  them  to  any  one,  for  yt  may  frustrate  ye 
means  of  any  further  use  to  be  made  of  them.  The  good  Lord 
our  God  who  hath  always  ordered  things  for  ye  good  of  his  poore 
churches  here,  directe  us  in  this  aright  and  dispose  it  to  a  good 
issue.  I  am  sorrie  we  put  you  to  so  much  trouble  about  this 
gentleman,  especialy  at  this  time  of  great  imploymente,  but  I 
know  not  how  to  avoyed  it.  I  must  again  intreat  you  to  let  me 
know  what  charge  &  troble  any  of  your  people  have  been  at 
aboute  him,  yt  it  may  be  recompenced.  So  with  the  true  affec- 
tion of  a  friend^  desiring  all  happiness  to  your  selfe  &  ^ours 
and  to  all  my  worthy  friends  with  you  (whom  I  love  in  ye  Lord) 
I  comende  you  to  his  grace  &  good  providence,  &  rest, 

Your  Most  assured  friend, 
Boston,    May    5,    1631.  John  Winthrop. 

Sir  Christopher  had  scarcely  become  the  prisoner  of 
the  colonists  before  they  were  furnished  with  undoubted 
evidence  of  his  dangerous  character.  A  packet  of  letters 
addressed  to  their  prisoner  fell  into  the  hands  of  Governor 
Winthrop  who,  under  the  circumstances,  thought  it 
proper  to  examine  their  contents.  The  letters«proved  to 
have  been  written  by  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges,  and  showed 
that  Sir  Christopher  was  an  agent  in  the  pay  of  Gorges, 
sent  out  in  advance  of  the  colonists,  as  a  spy  upon  their 
movements. 

"There  came  a  shallop  from  Piscataqua,"  records 
Governor  Winthrop,  "which  brought  news  of  a  small 
English  ship  come  thither  with  provisions  and  some 
Frenchmen  to  make  salt.  By  this  boat  Capt.  Neal, 
governour  of  Piscataqua,  sent  a  packet  of  letters  to  the 
governour,  directed  to  Sir  Christopher  Gardiner,  which, 
when  the  governour  had  opened,  he  found  it  came  from 


74  Roger  Williams 

Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges,  (who  claims  a  great  part  of  the 
Bay  of  Mass.)  In  the  packet  was  one  letter  to  Thomas 
Morton,  (sent  prisoner  before  unto  England  upon  the 
lord  chief  justice's  warrant)  by  both  which  letters  it  ap- 
peared that  he  had  some  secret  design  to  recover  his  pre- 
tended right,  and  that  he  reposed  much  trust  in  Sir  Chris- 
topher Gardiner.  These  letters  we  opened  because  they 
were  directed  to  one  who  was  our  prisoner,  and  declared 
himself  an  ill-wilier  to  our  government. ■ ' ■ 

It  is  certain  that  the  establishment  on  the  banks  of  the 
Neponset  was  broken  up  by  the  arrest  of  Sir  Christopher. 
It  was  at  first  thought  best  to  deport  him,  as  already 
related;  but  the  discovery  of  his  close  connection  with 
Gorges,  perhaps,  served  to  lessen  the  harshness  of  the 
colonists'  decision.  He  was  treated  kindly  and  a  little 
after,  dismissed  from  custody.  A  year  later  he  re- 
turned to  England,  where  his  reports  to  Sir  Ferdinando 
and  the  Council  for  New  England  were  probably  not 
such  as  tended  favorably  to  impress  the  mind  of  the  king. 

Thomas  Morton,  the  second  of  the  trio  who  are  recorded 
by  Winthrop  as  enemies  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony, 
in  England,  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  characters  in 
all  New  England  history.  In  his  New  English  Canaan  he 
calls  himself  "Thomas  Morton,  of  Clifford's  Inn,  Gent." 
The  record  concerning  him  is  far  more  voluminous  than 
that  concerning  Sir  Christopher  Gardiner.  He  was  a 
forerunner  of  Sir  Christopher,  having  reached  New  Eng- 
land about  the  year  1625,  as  a  member  of  a  company 
headed  by  a  certain  Captain  Wollaston.  This  company 
of  colonists  and  their  settlement  comprised  one  of  the 
abortive  attempts  of  Gorges  to  colonize  New  England. 
It  was  a  party  of  adventurers,  like  all  companies  sent  out 


xWinthrop,  i,  68. 


A  Political  Pioneer  75 

under  the  auspices  of  that  dreamer.  A  settlement  was 
made  on  the  southerly  shore  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  at 
a  place  known  to  the  Indians  as  Passonagesset,  and 
since,   even   to   this   day,   known   as   Mount   Wollaston. 

Morton  had  visited  New  England  two  or  three  years 
before,  with  Weston's  company  and  hence  undoubtedly 
had  acted  somewhat  in  the  capacity  of  guide  to  his  fellow 
adventurers.  Captain  Wollaston  himself  did  not  long 
remain  at  the  head  of  the  settlement  which  he  had  founded. 
Possibly  the  climate  was  too  severe  for  his  liking,  for  he 
soon  removed  to  Virginia  and  New  England  saw  him  no 
more,    although   it   still   perpetuates   his   name. 

Wollaston,  in  leaving,  appointed  one  Rasdell  as  his 
deputy,  and  he  in  turn  was  succeeded  by  one  Fitcher, 
Rasdell  following  Wollaston  to  Virginia.  Morton  soon 
raised  a  rebellion,  displaced  Fitcher  and  made  himself 
the  ruler  of  the  settlement.  He  named  the  place  Mare 
Mount,  or,  as  it  was  then  called,  "Merry  Mount".  Mor- 
ton's accession  to  power,  as  the  leader  of  the  settlement 
was  signalized  by  a  remarkable  ceremony  which  has  be- 
come a  notable  episode  in  New  England  history,  and 
has  been  celebrated  by  America's  great  romancer.1 

Morton  himself  has  recorded  his  life  at  Merry  Mount 
in  a  curious  narrative,  in  which  he  deals  with  the  Puritan 
settlers  in  a  semi-humorous,  but  altogether  bitter  and 
sarcastic  manner.2  His  own  record,  however,  sufficiently 
betrays  his  character,  for  he  makes  no  secret  of  the  revels 
of  himself  and  his  friends,  with  the  aid  of  "good  liquor," 
and  with  the  added  aid  of  the  Indian  "lasses  in  beaver 
coats",  who  were  wont  to  frequent  the  settlement  and 

Hawthorne's  Twice  Told  Tale*— The  Maypole  of  Merry  Mount. 
2The  New  English  Canaan. 


76  Roger  Williams 

join  in  the  dances  about  the  Maypole,  and  who  were 
"welcome  night  and  day." 

It  was  not  Morton's  revelries  and  alleged  immoralities, 
however,  greatly  as  they  were  abhorred  by  his  Puritan 
and  Pilgrim  neighbors,  which  chiefly  caused  his  expulsion 
from  New  England.  The  settlement  at  Passonagesset 
was  a  trading  post,  pure  and  simple.  There  was  no 
pretence  that  it  had  been  established  for  any  purpose 
other  than  for  trading  with  the  Indians.  The  Indian 
hunters  were  adepts  at  the  capture  of  fur-bearing  animals, 
and  the  skins  of  the  beaver,  the  deer,  the  wolf,  and  the 
bear  were  readily  exchanged  for  gaily  colored  cloths, 
beads  and  trinkets.  But,  above  and  beyond  all  things, 
the  Indians  coveted  fire-arms.  They  saw  the  vast  supe- 
riority of  these  weapons  over  their  own  bows  and  arrows 
and,  while  they  feared  them  in  the  hands  of  the 
white  man,  they  longed  to  possess  such  powerful 
weapons  themselves.  Morton  and  his  comrades  were 
quick  to  discover  that,  in  exchange  for  a  gun,  they  were 
able  to  procure  a  much  larger  quantity  of  furs,  than  in 
exchange  for  any  other  barter.  As  furs  fetched  a  large 
price  in  the  London  market  the  temptation  was  too  great 
to  be  resisted.  When,  therefore,  it  was  discovered  that 
Morton  was  supplying  the  Indians  with  arms  and  ammu- 
nition, thus  placing  in  the  hands  of  the  savages  the  means 
by  which  the  white  settlements  could  be  easily  swept  out 
of  existence  in  a  night,  the  magistrates  and  people  were 
alarmed.  Not  only  was  such  conduct  opposed  to  all 
reason  and  good  sense,  but  it  had  been  expressly  forbidden, 
in  a  royal  proclamation  issued  in  November,  1622.1 

"Now  to  maintaine  this  riotous  prodigallitie,  and  profuse 
excess,"  says  Bradford,"  Morton,  thinking  him  selfe  lawless,  and 


'Hazard's  Historical  Collections,  i,  151. 


A  Political  Pioneer  77 

hearing  what  gaine  ye  French  &  fisher-men  made  by  trading 
of  peeces,  powder  and  shotte  to  ye  Indeans,  he,  as  ye  head  of 
this  consortship,  begane  ye  practise  of  ye  same  in  these  parts; 
and  first  he  taught  them  how  to  use  them,  to  charge  and  discharg, 
and  what  proportion  of  powder  to  give  ye  peece,  according  to 
ye  sise  or  bignes  of  ye  same;  and  what  shotte  to  use  for  foule, 
and  what  for  deare.  And  having  thus  instructed  them,  he  im- 
ployed  some  of  them  to  hunte  and  fowle  for  him,  so  as  they 
became  farr  more  active  in  that  imploymente  than  any  of  ye 
English,  by  reason  of  ther  swiftnes  of  foote,  &  nimblenes  of 
body,  being  also  quick  sighted  and  by  continuall  exercise  well 
knowing  ye  hants  of  all  sorts  of  game.  So  as  when  they  saw  ye 
execution  that  a  peece  would  doe,  and  ye  benefite  that  might 
come  by  ye  same,  they  became  madd,  at  it  were,  after  them,  and 
would  not  stick  to  give  any  prise  they  could  attaine  too  for  them; 
accounting  their  bowes  &  arrowes  but  babies  in  comparison  of 
them. 

"And  here  I  may  take  occasion,"  continues  Bradford,  "to 
bewaile  ye  mischefe  that  this  wicked  man  began  in  these  parts, 
and  which  since*  base  covetousnes  prevailing  in  men  that  should 
know  better,  has  now  at  length  gott  ye  upper  hand,  and  made 
this  thing  comone,  notwithstanding  any  laws  to  ye  contrary; 
so  as  ye  Indeans  are  full  of  peeces  all  over,  both  fouling  peeces, 
muskets,  pistols,  &c.  They  have  also  their  moulds  to  make 
shotte,  of  all  sorts,  as  muskett  bulletts,  pistoll  bulletts,  swane 
&  gose  shote,  &  of  smaler  sorts;  yea,  some  have  seen  them  have 
their  scruplats  to  make  scrupins  them  selves,  when  they  wante 
them,  with  sundry  other  implements,  wherwith  they  are  ordi- 
narily better  fited  &  furnished  then  ye  English  them  selves. 
Yea,  it  is  well  knowne  that  they  will  have  powder  &  shot,  when 
the  English  want  it,  nor  cannot  gett  it;  and  yt  in  a  time  of 
warr  or  danger,  as  experience  hath  manifested  that  when 
lead  hath  been  scarce,  and  men  for  their  owne  defence 
would  gladly  have  given  a  groat  a  li.,  which  is  dear 
enoughe  yet  hath  it  bene  bought  up  &  sent  to  other  places, 
and  sould  to  shuch  as  trade  it  with  ye  Indeans,  at  12  pence  ye  li.; 
and  it  is  like  they  give  3  or  4s.  ye  pound,  for  they  will  have  it 


78  Roger  Williams 

at  any  rate.  And  these  things  have  been  done  in  ye  same  times, 
when  some  of  their  neighbours  &  friends  are  daily  killed  by  ye 
Indeans,  or  are  in  deanger  therof,  and  live  but  at  ye  Indeans 
mercie."1 

Before  the  close  of  the  year  1627  the  Plymouth  settlers 
were  alarmed  to  discover  that,  so  far  as  could  be  ascer- 
tained, nearly  one  hundred  Indians  had  been  provided 
with  the  white  man's  weapons.  Early  in  1628  the  men  of 
Plymouth  took  serious  council  with  their  brethren  of 
Salem  concerning  the  matter  and,  as  a  result,  it  was  de- 
termined to  place  Morton  under  arrest.  Accordingly, 
Captain  Myles  Standish,  with  a  party  of  armed  men  re- 
paired to  Wessagusset,  where  Morton  was  visiting,  and 
arrested  him.  He  escaped  from  his  captors  during  the 
night,  but  was  again  apprehended,  the  next  day,  at  his 
house  at  Merry  Mount.  He  was  taken  to  Plymouth, 
where  a  council  was  called  to  determine  what  should  be 
his  fate.  Standish  favored  the  infliction  of  the  death 
penalty,  but  the  decision  of  the  council  was  adverse  to 
proceeding  to  this  extremity.  It  was  at  length  determined 
to  send  him  back  to  England.  Inasmuch  as  no  ship  was 
to  sail  for  several  months,  and  it  was  not  deemed  expedient 
to  keep  him  in  the  "bilboes"  during  the  intervening  time, 
he  was  taken  to  the  Isles  of  Shoals,  there  to  remain  until 
June  of  the  same  year.  In  that  month  he  was  put  on 
board  ship  in  charge  of  John  Oldham  and  sent  to  England. 
With  him  were  sent  letters  addressed  to  the  Council  for 
New  England,  and  to  Gorges,  giving  official  notification, 
not  only  of  Morton's  alleged  immoral  life,  but  of  his  viola- 
tion of  the  proclamation  of  King  James  and  his  disregard 
of  the  common  safety,  in  selling  fire-arms  to  the  Indians. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  understand  why  Gorges,  with  his 


Bradford,  p.  286  et  seq. 


A  Political  Pioneer  79 

feeling  of  disappointment  at  the  failure  of  his  plans,  and 
his  animosity  towards  those  who  seemed  about  to  succeed 
where  he  had  failed,  was  disposed  to  do  nothing  in  the  way 
of  punishment  of  a  disturber  of  the  new  colony.  It  seems 
very  certain  that  Morton  was  not  severely  dealt  with,  and 
it  is  not  impossible  that  he  was  urged,  or  at  least  permitted 
to  return.  At  all  events,  late  in  the  year  1629,  less  than 
two  years  after  his  deportation,  he  made  his  appearance 
at  Plymouth.  Strangely  enough,  he  returned  in  company 
with  Isaac  Allerton,  a  member  of  the  Plymouth  Colony, 
who  had  been  sent  as  an  agent  of  the  colony  to  England, 
for  the  purpose  of  obtaining,  if  possible,  a  royal  charter, 
similar  to  that  which  had  been  granted  to  the  Bay  Colony. 
It  was  not  long  before  Morton  was  domiciled  anew  in  his 
old  quarters  at  Mount  Wollaston,  where  a  few  of  his  former 
comrades  still  remained. 

During  Morton's  absence  in  England,  Endecott  and 
his  company  had  arrived  in  New  England  and  had  joined 
themselves  to  the  little  settlement  at  Naumkeag,  after- 
wards called  Salem.  Endecott  was  early  apprised  of  the 
existence  of  the  settlement  at  Mount  Wollaston — which 
was  clearly  within  the  limits  of  his  patent, —  of  the  scandal- 
ous life  of  the  people  there  and  of  the  arrest  and  deporta- 
tion of  Morton.  When,  therefore,  Morton  reappeared 
in  the  New  England  settlements,  and  showed  an  open  de- 
fiance of  the  authority  of  the  magistrates,  and  of  the  laws 
and  orders  adopted  for  the  good  of  all,  the  impulsive  Ende- 
cott determined  that  he  would  not  brook  his  insolence.  A 
party  was  despatched  across  the  bay  to  arrest  him;  but 
Morton,  perhaps  seeing  from  his  elevated  situation,  the 
company  approaching,  fled  to  the  forest  and  evaded  his 
pursuers,  who  were  obliged  to  return  to  Salem  without 
their  hoped  for  prisoner. 

Sickness  and  famine  which  soon  beset  the  Salem  colo- 


80  Roger  Williams 

nists  prevented  further  movement  in  the  matter  for  a  time. 
A  few  months  later,  in  June,  1630,  Winthrop  and  his 
party,  bringing  succor  to  the  Salem  people,  arrived  in  the 
Arbella.  The  section  of  Endecott's  company  which  had 
been  sent  through  the  woods  on  foot  to  make  a  settlement 
at  Mishawum  (Charlestown)  was  in  as  great  straits  as 
were  their  brethren  at  Salem.  When  the  distress  of  both 
settlements  had  been  relieved,  a  meeting  of  the  magis- 
trates was  called,  at  which  the  case  of  Morton  was  con- 
sidered. 


CHAPTER  V 

This  was  the  first  meeting  of  the  Court  of  Assistants  of 
the  Colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay  of  which  any  record  exists. 
In  all  probability  it  was  actually  the  first  meeting  held. 
It  was  convened  at  Charlestown  on  the  twenty-third  day 
of  August,  1630.  At  this  meeting,  according  to  the  record, 
"it  was  ordered  that  Morton  of  Mount  Woolison  [Wol- 
laston]  should  presently  be  sent  for  by  pcesse.  [process]"1 

The  only  account  of  the  hearing  in  this  case  is  that  re- 
corded by  Morton  himself  in  his  New  English  Canaan. 
The  colonial  authorities,  both  official  recorder  and  his- 
torian are  silent.  The  record  of  the  next  meeting  of  the 
Court  of  Assistants,  however,  gives  us  the  result  of  the 
trial.  The  meeting  was  held  on  the  seventh  day  of 
September,  1630,  and  it  is  interesting  to  record,  in  passing, 
that  it  was  at  this  meeting  that  it  was  ordered  "that 
Trimountaine  shall  be  called  Boston."  Beyond  a  doubt 
Morton  appeared  before  the  tribunal  of  magistrates, 
where  his  misdeeds  were  fully  spread  before  him  and  the 
sentence  of  the  court  pronounced  upon  him.  It  would 
appear  from  the  record  that  more  stress  was  placed  upon 
Morton's  alleged  ill-treatment  of  the  Indians  and  upon 
his  theft  of  a  canoe  from  them,  than  upon  the  heinous 
offence  for  which  he  had,  two  or  three  years  before,  been 
banished  by  the  Plymouth  magistracy.  It  is  probable 
that,  after  Morton's  return,  he  refrained  from  the  offence 
of  selling  fire-arms  to  the  Indians,  but  made  himself 
obnoxious  to  them  by  an  overbearing  and  insolent  spirit. 


•Records  of  the  Colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  i,  74. 


82  Roger  Williams 

His  companions  at  Mount  Wollaston  were  not  of  the 
purest  reputation  and  it  seemed  probable  that  the  settle- 
ment would  grow  more  and  more  undesirable  as  a  neigh- 
bor. The  attitude  of  the  Bay  Colony  was,  from  the 
beginning,  one  of  kindness  and  conciliation  towards  the 
Indians,  as  was  the  part  of  wisdom.  At  the  very  outset, 
therefore,  the  determination  was  made  that  unkindness 
to  these  simple,  barbarous  people  must  have  no  coun- 
tenance from  the  authorities.  The  sentence  pronounced 
upon  Morton  displays  the  vigor  of  their  determination. 
Thus  the  record  reads: 

It  is  ordered  by  this  present  court  that  Thomas  Morton,  of 
Mount  Wolliston  shall  presently  be  sett  into  the  bilbowes  & 
after  sent  prisoner  into  England  by  the  shipp  called  the  Gifte, 
no  we  returneing  thither;  that  all  his  goods  shal  be  seazed  upon 
to  defray  the  charge  of  his  transportation,  payment  of  his  debts 
and  to  give  satisfaccon  to  the  Indians  for  a  cannoe  hee  unjustly 
tooke  away  from  them;  &  that  his  house,  after  the  goods  are 
taken  out,  shal  be  burnt  downe  to  the  ground  in  the  sight  of  the 
Indians,  for  their  satisfaccon,  for  many  wrongs  hee  hath  done 
them  from  tyme  to  tyme.1 

It  is  quite  probable  that  the  reputation  which  Morton 
is  said  to  have  borne  in  England  may  have  had  quite  as 
much  to  do  with  his  second  transportation,  arrest  and 
deportation  as  any  actual  offence  committed  here.  Ru- 
mors, rather  indefinite,  it  is  true,  had  come  of  misdemean- 
ors committed  in  England,  a  suspicion  of  murder  even 
being  entertained  against  him.  Indeed  it  would  appear 
that  Lord  Chief  Justice  Hyde  had  requested  that  he  be 
sent  back  that  he  might  be  dealt  with  for  his  misdemean- 
ors. And  yet  it  does  not  appear  that  he  was  severely 
dealt  with  on  reaching  England.     He  was  confined  in 


Records  of  the  Colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  i,  75;  Winthrop,  i,  84, 35 


A  Political  Pioneer  83 

jail  for  a  brief  period,  but  he  was  soon  free  again,  at  the 
instance,  no  doubt,  of  Gorges,  who  had  use  for  him. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  sentence  of  Morton,  rigorous 
as  it  was,  was  carried  out  in  all  its  terms.  Thus  one 
more  enemy  of  the  infant  colony,  himself  upon  terms  of 
intimacy  with  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges,  was  added  to  the 
party  in  England,  eager  to  witness  the  failure  of  the 
attempt  at  colonization  in  New  England. 

The  third  member  of  the  trio  of  enemies  of  the  colony 
at  court  was  Philip  Ratcliffe.  The  record  concerning 
this  man  and  the  exact  nature  of  his  offence,  is  even  more 
meagre  than  is  that  concerning  Sir  Christopher  Gardiner. 
He  is  said  to  have  been  a  servant  of  Governor  Matthew 
Cradock,  but  it  seems  probable  that  his  position  was 
rather  that  of  an  agent,  or  business  representative  of  the 
nominal  governor  of  the  colony,  who  himself  remained 
to  guard  the  interests  of  the  company  at  home.  Rat- 
cliffe was  evidently  a  resident  of  Salem  and  it  was  there 
that  his  offence  whatever  it  actually  may  have  been,  was 
committed.  The  records  of  the  colony  are  silent  in  the 
matter,  save  that  they  record  the  verdict  of  the  court, 
under  date  of  June  14,  1631,  in  these  words:— 

1631,  June  14 — It  is  ordered  that  Philip  Ratcliffe  shalbe 
whipped,  haue  his  ears  cutt  of,  fyned  40£  &  banished  out  of  ye 
lymitts  of  this  jurisdiccon,  for  vttering  mallitious  &  scandulous 
speeches  against  the  goumt.  &  the  church  of  Salem  &c,  as  ap- 
peareth  by  a  pticulr  thereof,  pued  vpon  oath.1 

Winthrop's  record  does«not  greatly  vary: 

1631,  June  14 — At  this  court  one  Philip  Ratcliffe,  a  servant 
of  Mr.  Cradock,  being  convict,  ore  tenus,  of  most  foul,  scanda- 
lous invectives  against  our  churches  and  government  was  cen- 


'Minmrhusetts  Colonial  Records,  i,  88. 


84  Roger  Williams 

sured  to  be  whipped,  lose  his  ears  and  be  banished  the  planta- 
tion, which  was  presently  executed.1 

Thomas  Morton,  in  his  New  English  Canaan,  devotes 
a  chapter  to  the  Ratcliffe  episode,  alluding  to  him  under 
the  name  of  Mr.  Innocence  Fairecloath  and  describing 
him  as  sent  over  into  New  Canaan  by  Mr.  Mathias  Char- 
terparty,  (by  which  latter  name  he  designates  Mr. 
Cradock)  "  to  raise  a  very  good  marchantable  comodity 
for  his  benefit."  Morton  represents  that  certain  of  the 
colonists 

"practised  to  get  into  his  [Ratcliffe's]  debte,  which  hee,  not  mis- 
trusting suffered  and  gave  credit  for  such  commodity  as  hee  had 
sold  at  a  price.  When  the  day  of  payment  came,  insteede  of 
moneyes,  hee,  being  at  that  time  sick  and  weake  and  stood  in 
neede  of  the  Beaver  hee  had  contracted  for,  hee  had  an  epistle 
full  of  zealous  exhortations  to  provide  for  the  soule.  Persisting 
in  his  demand  he,"  so  says  Morton,  "was  proceeded  against 
upon  charge  of  blasphemy  against  the  church  of  Salem."  His 
sentence,  Morton  records  as  far  more  severe  than  appears  in 
the  records  of  the  Great  and  General  Court  of  the  Colony.  This 
he  declares,  was  "to  have  his  tongue  bored  through,  his  nose 
slit,  his  face  branded,  his  ears  cut,  his  body  to  be  whipd  in  sev- 
erall  plantations  of  their  jurisdiction  and  a  fine  of  forty  pounds 
imposed,  with  perpetual  banishment." 

"This  cruel  sentence,"  continues  Morton,  "was  stoped  in 
part  by  Sir  Christopher  Gardiner  (then  present  at  the  execution) 
by  expostulating  with  Master  Temperwell  (Winthrop)  who  was 
content  (with  that  whipping  and  cutting  of  part  of  his  ears)  to 
send  Innocence  going,  with  the  loss  of  all  his  goods,  to  pay  the 
fine  imposed  and  perpetuall  banishment  out  of  their  lands  of 
New  Canaan,  in  terrorem  populi."2 

The  object  of  Morton  in  writing  and  publishing  his  New 
English  Canaan  was,  obviously,  not  so  much  to  describe 


Winthrop,  i,  67. 

2Morton's  New  English  Canaan. 


A  Political  Pioneer  85 

the  new  land  across  the  sea,  and  to  record  facts  in  the 
history  of  the  young  colonists  there,  as  to  vindicate  him- 
self in  English  eyes  and  to  punish  enemies  in  the  colonies. 
In  other  words  he  desired  to  "get  even,"  with  those  who 
had  tried  and  banished  him.  So  virulent  is  he  in  his 
charges  against  the  colonists  that  none  of  them  can  safely 
be  accepted  as  facts  of  history.  It  may  be  fairly  pre- 
sumed, however,  that  a  violent  dispute  was  precipitated  be- 
tween Ratcliffe  and  some  of  the  people  of  Salem,  over  some 
matters  of  business.  Upon  which  side  the  right  rested  does 
not  appear,  nor  does  it  especially  concern  us.  Ratcliffe 
evidently  became  greatly  incensed  and  broke  out  into  the 
most  terrible  invective  and  blasphemies  against  the  people, 
the  churches  and  the  magistrates.  That  he,  in  his  rage, 
passed  beyond  the  bounds  of  reason  in  his  "mallitious 
and  scandulous  speeches"  there  can  be  no  doubt.  The 
sentence  of  Ratcliffe,  as  entered  in  the  records  of  the  colony 
was  sufficiently  cruel,  without  the  added  enormities  as- 
cribed to  the  magistracy  by  Morton.  That  worthy  would 
have  us  understand  that,  through  the  intercession  of  Sir 
Christopher  Gardiner,  the  more  hideous  details  of  the 
sentence,  as  noted  by  him  were  remitted.  It  is  proba- 
bly the  truth  that,  whether  by  the  request  of  Gardiner  or 
not,  the  sentence  of  banishment  was  remitted  for  a  time, 
by  Winthrop.  That  the  governor  did  show  this  clemency 
to  the  culprit  is  certain,  since  one  of  the  charges  brought 
against  Winthrop  by  Dudley,  in  1632,  was  that  he  had 
remitted  the  sentences  of  banishment  pronounced  against 
Ratcliffe  and  one  Grey. 

It  was  in  the  summer  of  1632  that  Ratcliffe,  the  third 
of  the  trio  of  the  colony's  disturbers,  was  sent  back  to 
England.  It  was  in  December  of  that  year  that  the  first 
formal  and  concerted  attack  was  made  upon  the  charter 
granted  by  King  Charles  I.     The  original  petition,  M  com- 


86  Roger  Williams 

posed  of  many  sheets  of  paper",  has  not  been  found  among 
the  British  archives,  and  is  probably  not  in  existence;  but 
that  it  was  a  vigorous  onslaught  upon  the  charter  cannot 
be  doubted.  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges  and  Captain  Mason 
appeared  in  criticism  of  the  methods  employed  by  the 
company  in  procuring  the  charter.  Gardiner,  Morton, 
and  Ratcliffe  detailed  their  personal  grievances,  the  latter 
showing  his  cropped  ears  in  proof  of  his  charges.  All 
united  in  bringing  against  the  colonists  charges  of  sedition 
and  intended  rebellion  against  both  Church  and  State. 
The  charges  were  serious  and  had  they  not  been  promptly 
met  they  might  have  proved  fatal  to  the  life  of  the  strug- 
gling colony.  That  they  were  promptly  met  has  already 
been  shown  in  the  record  made  by  Winthrop.  That  the  at- 
tempt failed  is  certain.  In  May,  1633,  Governor  Winthrop 
wrote  the  letter  to  Governor  Bradford,  already  quoted,  in 
which  he  exultantly  informed  his  brother  magistrate  of  the 
failure  of  the  machinations  of  the  enemies  of  the  colony. 

In  the  succeeding  May,  a  vessel  being  about  to  sail  from 
Boston,  on  her  return  voyage  to  England,  laden  with  a 
cargo  of  fish,  Governor  Winthrop  embraced  the  opportu- 
nity of  still  further  assuring  the  king  and  council  of  the 
loyalty  of  the  colony.  He  sent  by  the  hand  of  Captain 
Graves,  master  of  the  ship,  the  formal  answer  of  the  govern- 
or and  assistants,  to  the  charges  filed  by  Sir  Christopher 
Gardiner,  and  with  it  sent  also  a  certificate,  signed  by 
"the  old  planters" — doubtless  Blackstone,  Jeffries,  Mav- 
erick and  Thompson — "concerning  the  carriage  of  af- 
fairs, etc. "  This  certificate  was,  no  doubt,  in  the  nature 
of  an  attestation  to  the  truth  of  the  statements  contained 
in  the  reply  of  the  governor  and  assistants.1 


'Winthrop,  i,  106. 


A  Political  Pioneer  87 

But,  in  the  interest  of  historical  accuracy  and  probabil- 
ity, it  must  be  remembered  that  there  was  another,  and 
perhaps  stronger,  impelling  motive  which  influenced 
Charles  in  his  decision  in  favor  of  the  colonists.  The 
spirit  of  colonization  was  abroad  in  the  world.  Early  in 
the  sixteenth  century  the  French  were  making  settlements 
in  Canada,  and,  in  1608,  Quebec  was  founded.  Spain 
in  Cuba,  in  Central  America,  in  Mexico,  was  converting 
the  natives  to  Christianity  with  the  edge  of  the  sword;  and, 
in  1565,  had  laid  the  coquina  walls  of  St.  Augustine. 
Even  earlier  than  this,  Coronado  had  penetrated  far  into 
the  interior,  marching  northward  from  Mexico,  in  search 
of  the  seven  cities  of  Cibola,  and  had  founded  the  city  of 
Santa  Fe. 

It  was  not  long  after  the  discovery  by  Columbus  or  new 
land  at  the  westward,  that  a  papal  bull  was  issued  grant- 
ing exclusive  control  in  these  lands  to  Spain  and  Portugal ; 
and  Spanish  exploration  and  attempts  at  settlement  were 
begun  at  a  very  early  day.  Technically  this  bull  was  not 
regarded  as  operative  in  England.  From  the  time  of 
Edward  I  the  policy  had  been  established  in  English  law, 
that  it  was  not  competent  for  the  Bishop  of  Rome  to  in- 
terfere with  the  authority  of  the  Crown.  No  earthly 
power  could  stand  between  God  and  the  Crown.  By  the 
statute  of  'praemunire,  in  the  reign  of  Richard  II,  it  was  de- 
clared that  "the  Crown  of  England  hath  been  at  all  times 
so  free  that  it  hath  no  earthly  sovereign,  but  is  immediately 
subject  to  God,  and  to  none  other,  in  all  things  touching 
the  regality  of  the  said  Crown. "  It  was  therefore  regarded 
in  England  that  property  in  new  lands,  discovered  by 
English  navigators,  was  vested  in  the  Crown,  a  papal  bull 
to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.  The  doctrine  of  the 
right  to  occupy  new  lands  is  set  forth  by  Bracton,  chief 
justiciary  in  the  reign  of  Henry  III,  in  his  work  on  the 


88  Roger  Williams 

laws  of  England,  De  Legibus  et  Consuetudinibus  Anglioe: 
Si  autem  insula  in  mari  nata  sit  (quod  raro  accidit), 
occupantus  Jit.  Although  this  doctrine,  in  its  terms,  ap- 
plies to  islands  in  mari  natoe,  by  volcanic  iforce,  or  other 
operations  of  nature,  it  was  held  to  apply  with  equal  force 
to  islands  newly  discovered.  The  exclusive  right  of  Spain 
and  Portugal  to  the  lands  of  the  New  World  was  not,  there- 
fore, recognized  theoretically  in  England,  by  virtue  of  the 
declaration  of  the  Holy  See.  But,  although  this  doctrine 
and  policy  was  well  established  in  English  jurisprudence, 
it  is  equally  true  that  English  custom  in  that  age  respected 
the  rights  of  exploration  of  other,  and  especially  of  stronger 
nations.  When  therefore  Cabot  set  sail,  in  1497,  from 
Bristol,  he  was  commissioned  by  Henry  VII  "to  sail  to 
the  East,  West,  or  North,  with  five  ships  carrying  the 
English  flag,  to  seek  and  discover  all  the  islands,  countries, 
regions,  or  provinces  of  pagans,  in  whatever  part  of  the 
world."  It  is  noticeable  that,  in  this  commission,  a  souther- 
ly course  was  excluded,  from  which  it  may  be  inferred  that 
it  was  not  desired  to  come  in  conflict  with  any  of  the  rights 
acquired  by  the  nations  of  the  Iberian  peninsula.  Al- 
though an  important  English  authority1  would  have  us 
understand  that  this  careful  respect  for  the  rights  of  Spain 
and  Portugal  had  its  source  in  an  English  sense  of  moral 
responsibility,  it  is  well  not  to  forget  that,  in  the  fifteenth 
century,  the  nation  of  England  was  a  weakling  in  com- 
parison with  Spain.  The  disregard  which  England,  in 
modern  times,  has  shown  for  the  rights  of  other  nations, 
as  gained  in  the  exploration  of  new  lands,  will,  perhaps, 
justify  us  in  making  a  comparison  between  the  navies  of 
Henry  VII  and  of  Ferdinand. 

Notwithstanding  the  English  doctrine  which,  in  theory, 


'Edward  John  Payne,  History  of  the  New  World  called  America,  i,  244. 


A  Political  Pioneer  89 

repudiated  the  papal  bull,  as  valid  against  English  right 
of  exploration  and  settlement  in  the  New  World,  it  is  cer- 
tain that  no  effort  was  made  to  follow  up  the  discoveries 
of  John  Cabot.  It  was  not  until  after  the  actual  repudia- 
tion, by  Henry  VIII,  of  all  control  by  the  papal  power,  and 
the  divorce  of  that  monarch  from  his  Spanish  wife,  that 
any  serious  movement  at  discoveries  in  the  New  World 
was  made  by  England ;  and  it  was  not  until  after  the  death 
of  catholic  Mary,  and  the  accession  of  protestant  Elizabeth 
that  the  first  attempts  at  colonization  were  made. 

Although  the  passion  of  adventure  had  seized  the  English 
mind,  and  numerous  voyages  were  made,  in  the  hope  of 
discovering  new  routes  to  the  Indies,  the  reign  of  Henry, 
of  Mary,  of  Elizabeth  and  of  James  had  passed,  without 
the  establishment  of  any  successful  English  colonies  on 
the  American  coast.  The  three  ventures  of  Sir  Humphrey 
Gilbert,  in  1578, 1579,and  1583;  that  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh, 
in  1584,  and  of  Sir  Richard  Grenville  at  Roanoke,  in  1585 
were  all  wretched  failures;  and  the  mystery  of  Croatan 
is  yet  unsolved.  Gosnold's  feeble  attempt  at  settlement 
on  the  little  group  of  islands  at  the  mouth  of  Buzzard's 
Bay,  which  still  bear  his  name,  in  their  township  title, 
came  to  an  end  almost  before  it  had  a  beginning.  The 
ruins  at  Jamestown  are  a  pathetic  reminder  of  that  feeble 
colony  which  promised  so  much,  but  which  yielded  so 
little  fruit.  The  persistent  attempts  of  Gorges  and  Mason 
and  Popham,  on  the  New  England  coast  had  been  utterly 
futile.  When,  therefore,  Charles  I  saw  with  pleasure 
that  two  flourishing  English  colonies  had  been  planted 
in  New  England,  and  bade  fair  to  take  a  firm  root  and  grow 
luxuriantly,  he  had  probably  but  little  sympathy  with 
those  who,  through  jealousy,  and  for  the  sake  of  accomplish- 
ing a  personal  revenge,  would  cause  them  also  to  fail. 

More  than  this,  Charles  no  doubt  remembered  that  by 


90  Roger  Williams 

the  charter  which  he  had  granted  to  the  Massachusetts 
Bay  Colony,  a  few  years  before,  he  had  expressly  provided 
that  it  should 

be  lawful  to  and  for  the  chief  commanders,  governors  and  officers 
of  said  company  for  the  time  being,  who  shall  be  resident  in  the 
said  part  of  New  England  in  America,  ...  from  time  to  time 
and  at  all  times  hereafter,  for  their  special  defence  and  safety, 
to  encounter,  expulse,  repel,  and  resist  by  force  of  arms,  as  well 
by  sea  as  by  land  and  by  all  fitting  ways  and  means  whatever, 
all  such  person  and  persons  as  shall  at  any  time  hereafter,  attempt 
or  enterprise  the  destruction,  invasion,  detriment  or  annoyance 
to  the  said  plantation  or  inhabitants. 

It  was  by  the  authority  thus  given  that  the  colonists 
purged  themselves,  whenever  it  was  considered  necessary, 
of  all  obnoxious  persons,  whose  presence  among  them  was 
regarded  as  harmful  to  the  body  politic. 

It  is  useful,  before  leaving  this  portion  of  our  subject, 
to  record  the  final  result  of  this  assault  upon  the  charter, 
so  far  as  concerns  the  fortunes  of  Thomas  Morton.  It  is 
certain  that  he  returned  to  Massachusetts  for  the  second 
time,  some  years  after  the  failure  of  the  machinations  of 
Gorges  and  Mason,  in  which  he  played  such  an  active 
part.    Under  date  of  March  9,  1644,  Governor  Winthrop 

makes  this  record: 

■ 

1644,  March  9 — At  the  Court  of  Assistants  Thomas  Morton 
was  called  forth  presently  after  the  lecture  that  the  country  might 
be  satisfied  of  the  justice  of  our  proceeding  against  him.  There 
was  laid  to  his  charge  his  complaint  against  us  at  the  council 
board,  which  he  denied.  Then  we  produced  the  copy  of  the 
bill  exhibited  by  Sir  Christopher  Gardiner,  etc.,  wherein  he 
was  named  as  a  party  or  witness.  He  denied  that  he  had  any 
hand  in  the  information,  only  was  called  as  a  witness.  To  con- 
vince him  to  be  the  principal  party  it  was  showed: 

1 :  That  Gardiner  had  no  occasion  to  complain  against  us  for 


A  Political  Pioneer  91 

he  was  kindly  used  and  dismissed  in  peace,  professing  much 
engagement  for  the  great  courtesy  he  found  here. 

2:  Morton  had  set  forth  a  book  against  us  and  had  threatened 
us  and  had  prosecuted  a  quo  warranto  against  us,  which  he  did 
not  deny. 

3:  His  letter  was  produced,  written  soon  after  to  Mr.  Jeffrey 
[one  of  the  old  planters]  his  old  acquaintance  and  intimate  friend, 
in  these  words: 

The  full  text  of  the  letter  is  recorded  by  the  governor, 
in  which,  in  a  style  satirical  and  somewhat  following  that 
of  the  New  English  Canaan,  Morton  related  the  story  of 
his  attack  on  the  colony  before  the  council.  In  allusion 
to  the  Ratcliffe  affair  Morton  says: — , 

And  as  for  Ratcliffe  he  was  comforted  by  their  lordships  with 
the  cropping  of  Mr.  Winthrop's  ears,  which  shows  what  opinion 
is  held  amongst  them  of  King  Winthrop,  with  all  his  inventions 
and  his  Amsterdam  fantastical  ordinances,  his  preachings, 
marriages,  and  other  abusive  ceremonies,  which  do  exemplify  his 
detestation  to  the  Church  of  England,  and  the  contempt  of  his 
Majesty's  authority  and  wholesome  laws  which  are  and  will 
be  established  in  those  parts. 

May  10,  1634. 

Winthrop  adds  to  his  record: 

Having  been  kept  in  prison  about  a  year  in  expectation  of 
further  evidence  out  of  England,  he  was  again  called  before  the 
court  and  after  some  debate  what  to  do  with  him,  he  was  fined 
100  pounds  and  set  at  liberty.  He  was  a  charge  to  the  country 
for  he  had  nothing,  and  we  thought  not  fit  to  inflict  corporal 
punishment  upon  him,  being  old  and  crazy,  but  thought  better 
to  fine  him  and  give  him  his  liberty,  as  if  it  had  been  to  procure 
his  fine,  but  indeed  to  leave  him  opportunity  to  go  out  of  the 
jurisdiction,  as  he  did  soon  after  and  went  to  Acomenticus  and 
living  there  poor  and  despised,  he  died  within  two  years  after.1 


'Winthrop,  ii,  232. 


CHAPTER  VI 

The  assumption  by  Hawthorne  that  the  occasion  of 
the  mutilation  of  the  colors  at  Salem  by  Mr.  Endecott 
was  the  reception  of  the  news  that  a  governor-general 
was  to  be  appointed,  who  should  establish  the  rule  of  the 
Church  of  England  in  the  colony  was,  perhaps,  after  all 
not  wholly  fanciful.  It  is  undeniable  that,  at  this  time,  a 
demand  was  made  upon  the  colony  for  the  surrender  of 
the  charter.  At  whose  instigation  this  demand  was  made  is 
not  decisively  known ;  but  one  may  readily  believe  that  our 
old  acquaintances  Gorges,  Gardiner,  Morton  and  Ratcliffe, 
although  they  had  signally  failed  in  their  endeavor  two 
years  before,  would  not  easily  be  persuaded  to  abandon 
their  purpose  of  breaking  up  the  colony.  This  second 
attempt  was  very  nearly  successful,  and  was  thwarted  only 
through  the  good  judgment  and  shrewd  management  of 
the  governor  and  his  council  of  advisors,  as  appears  by  a 
record  made  by  Governor  Winthrop,  in  June,  1634,  only 
a  month  later  than  the  date  of  Morton's  letter  just  quoted. 
The  governor  wrote: 

Mr.  Cradock  wrote  to  the  governor  and  assistants  and  sent 
a  copy  of  the  council's  order  whereby  we  were  required  to  send 
over  our  patent.  Upon  long  consultation  whether  we  should 
return  answer  or  not,  we  agreed  and  returned  answer  to  Mr. 
Cradock,  excusing  that  it  could  not  be  done  but  by  a  general 
court,  which  was  to  be  holden  in  September  next.1 

By  means  of  this  shrewd  management  the  colonists 
succeeded  in  gaining  several  months  of  time.     When  the 


Winthrop,  i,  163. 


A  Political  Pioneer  93 

General  Court  convened  in  the  following  September,  how- 
ever, they  discovered  that  their  enemies  at  court  had  no 
idea  of  abandoning  their  plans.  The  movement  in  England 
for  the  overthrow  of  the  political  and  religious  liberty  of 
the  colonists  is  best  told  in  the  words  of  the  governor: 

1634,  Sept.  18. — The  Griffin  and  another  ship  now  arriving 
with  about  two  hundred  passengers  and  one  hundred  cattle.  .  . 
there  came  over  a  copy  of  the  commission  granted  to  the  two 
archbishops1  and  ten  others  of  the  council,  to  regulate  all  plan- 
tations, and  power  given  them  to  call  in  all  patents,  to  make 
laws,  to  raise  tythes  and  portions  for  ministers,  to  remove  and 
punish  governors,  and  to  hear  and  determine  all  causes  and 
inflict  all  punishments,  even  death  itself.  This  being  advised 
by  ourselves  to  be  especially  intended  for  us,  and  that  there 
were  ships  and  soldiers  provided,  given  out  as  for  the  carrying 
of  the  new  governors  and  the  discipline  of  the  Church  of  England 
and  the  law  of  the  commissioners — occasioned  the  magistrates 
and  deputies  to  hasten  our  fortifications  and  to  discover  our 
minds  to  each  other.3 

It  was  plain  to  the  minds  of  the  colonists  now,  that  King 
Charles  had  yielded  to  the  importunities  of  the  enemies 
of  the  colony  and  that  he  was  far  less  friendly  towards 
it  than  formerly.  The  young  colony  had  passed  beyond 
the  stage  of  a  mere  experiment.  It  now  numbered  fully 
four  thousand  souls  and  no  fewer  than  twenty  villages  had 
sprung  up  upon  the  shores,  and  in  the  immediate  vicinity, 
of  the  Bay.  The  farms  were  beginning  to  become  pro- 
ductive and  large  herds  of  cattle  were  grazing  in  the  fields 
and  meadows.  The  commerce  of  the  colony,  in  fish, 
lumber  and  furs  was  beginning  to  be  considerable.  In 
addition  to  this  numerical  and  financial  strength,  which 
no  doubt  excited  and  increased  the  jealousy  of  Gorges 


'Canterbury  and  York. 
«Winthrop,  i,  171. 


94  Roger  Williams 

and  his  followers  and  adherents,  the  attitude  of  the  colony 
in  matters  ecclesiastical  had  begun  to  attract  the  attention 
of  Charles  and  of  Archbishop  Laud.  There  was  a  reign 
of  terror  in  England  for  all  dissenters,  and  many  were  pay- 
ing the  penalty  of  non-conformity  with  their  lives.  The 
Puritan  settlers  of  Massachusetts  Bay  had  little  sympathy 
with  the  doctrines  of  the  Separatists,  and  this  was  well 
understood,  at  the  outset,  by  Charles;  and  yet  they,  by 
the  very  act  of  withdrawing  from  England,  settling  in  a 
new  country,  and  adopting  the  congregational  mode  in 
ordination  and  church  government,  had  actually  become 
Separatists.  The  king  and  his  henchman,  Laud,  there- 
fore, beheld  the  spectacle  of  an  English  colony  planted  in 
New  England,  full  of  vigor  and  life,  and  imbued  with 
ideas  and  doctrines  which  were,  in  effect,  a  denial  of  the 
claims  and  demands  of  the  king  and  of  the  archbishop. 
The  growing  strength  of  the  Puritan  element  in  England, 
however,  and  the  attention  which  it  demanded  at  home, 
no  doubt  served  to  distract  the  attention  of  the  king  and 
his  counsellors,  in  some  degree,  from  the  non-conformist 
colony  across  the  sea.  The  appointment  of  a  governor- 
general  was  not  made  when  it  was  at  first  threatened,  but 
was  delayed  until  two  years  later.  The  colonists  were 
therefore  spared,  at  this  time,  a  resort  to  open  rebellion 
by  force  of  arms.  They  did  not,  however,  relax  their 
vigilance,  for  they  evidently  felt  that  at  any  time  the  blow 
might  fall.  In  the  records  of  the  colony  ample  proof 
exists  that  the  colonists  not  only  continued  their  prepara- 
tions for  defence  against  a  possible  attack  by  a  military 
force,  but  also  that  they  pushed  these  preparations  with 
all  haste.  At  the  meeting  of  the  General  Court,  on  the 
fourth  day  of  March,  1634,  it  was  ordered 
"  that  the  ffort  att  Castle  Hand,  nowe  begun,  shalbe  fuHv 
pfected,  the  ordinances  mounted  &  eny  other  thing   aboute    it 


A  Political  Pioneer  95 

f finished,  before  any  other  fortificacion  be  further  proceeded  in,"1 

At  the  same  session  it  was  further  ordered 
that  there  shalbe  forthwith  a  beacon  sett  on  the  sentry  hill  att 
Boston,  to  giue  notice  to  the  country  of  any  danger  &  that  there 
shalbe  a  ward  of  one  pson  kept  there  from  the  first  of  Aprill  to 
the  last  of  Septr  &  that  upon  the  discoury  of  any  danger  the 
beacon  shalbe  fired,  an  allarum  given,  as  also  messengers 
presently  sent  by  that  towne  where  the  danger  is  discoued  to 
all  other  townes  within  this  jurisdicion.2 

The  antiquarian  finds  pleasure  in  tracing  to  this  act 
of  the  General  Court,  and  to  the  erection  of  the  beacon 
which  promptly  followed,  the  name  which  still  attaches 
to  Boston's  capitoline  hill. 

Not  only  were  these  fortifications  commanding  the 
harbor  hurried  to  completion,  but  companies  of  militia 
were  formed  and  forced  to  drill  with  regularity  and  fre- 
quency. Absentees  from  drill  were  forced  to  pay  a  fine, 
and  the  moneys  thus  received  were  employed  in  the  pur- 
chase of  arms  and  equipments.  In  addition  to  these  pre- 
cautions, the  governor  and  a  committee  of  magistrates  and 
others  were  appointed  by  the  General  Court,  to  constitute 
a  board  of  military  affairs.  This  board  was  authorized  to 
appoint  and  remove  military  officers;  to  "dispose  of  all 
companyes;"  to  maintain  discipline;  to  see  that  trainings 
were  observed;  and  to  order  out  troops  whenever  occasion 
demanded. 

Later  in  the  same  session  of  the  General  Court,  as  if 
fearful  that  all  possible  had  not  been  done  for  the  public 
defence  it  was  "Ordered;  that  the  deputy  gounr,  overseer 
of  the  ffortification  att  Castle  Ileland,  shall  haue  power 
topresse  men  for  that  worke,   for  soe  long  a  tyme  as  in 


'Records  i,  1S6. 
'Records  i,  137. 


96  Roger  Williams 

his  discrecon,  hee  shall  thinke  meete,  notwithstanding 
the  former  order  in  Septr  to  the  contrary."1 

It  was  at  this  same  session  of  the  court  that  the  act  of 
Endecott,  in  defacing  the  colors  at  Salem,  was  first  re- 
ported to  the  magistrates  and  deputies.  Doubtless,  in 
the  commission  of  this  act  by  an  influential  magistrate 
of  the  colony,  and  the  apprehension  lest  information  con- 
cerning it  should  reach  England,  the  colonists  saw  added 
cause  for  fear  that  this  second  attack  upon  the  charter 
might  prove  successful.  Hence,  resolved  to  resist  to  the 
uttermost  any  attempt  which  the  mother  country  might 
make  to  dispossess  them  by  force,  they  were  making  all 
speed  to  complete  the  projected  harbor  defences,  and 
otherwise  prepare  themselves  for  the  crisis  which  seemed 
imminent. 

Such  was  the  critical  condition  of  the  political  affairs 
of  the  Colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  at  the  period  which 
we  are  considering.  Who  was  the  "indiscrete  person," 
who  had  written  letters  against  the  church  government 
in  England,  and  despatched  them  by  the  hand  of  Cap- 
tain Leavitt,  is  unknown.  There  is  no  actual  proof  that 
it  was  Roger  Williams;  although  we  know  that  he  had 
written  a  treatise  upon  this  subject,  which  was  made  the 
topic  of  some  discussion,  and  which  he  afterwards  re- 
tracted and  offered  to  be  burnt.  He  was  at  Plymouth 
when  these  letters  went  astray,  through  the  death  of  the 
captain  at  sea,  and  by  this  mischance  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  enemies  of  the  colony  in  England.  It  cannot  be 
doubted  that  the  author  of  these  letters  was  some  person 
of  distinctly  Separatist  tendencies;  but  such  persons  were 
by  no  means  rare  among  the  colonists,  especially  at  Salem. 
It  was  almost  immediately  after  the  first  assault  upon  the 


'Records,  i,  139. 


A  Political  Pioneer  97 

charter  that  Williams  removed  from  Plymouth  to  Salem. 
As  has  been  seen,  his  attack  upon  the  right  of  the  king  to 
grant  a  patent,  was  first  made  in  the  winter  of  1633,  or 
but  a  few  months  after  the  reception  of  the  first  news 
from  England,  concerning  the  assault  of  Gorges  and  his 
friends  upon  the  charter.  Indeed,  the  attack  of  Roger 
Williams  upon  the  integrity  of  the  patent  was  almost 
simultaneous  with  the  arrival  of  the  William  and 
Jane,  and  the  Mary  and  Jane,  which  brought  more 
minute  details  concerning  the  movements  of  Gorges, 
and  their  results,  than  had  been  brought  by  the  ship 
William,  which  had  arrived  in  the  previous  Feb- 
ruary. In  short,  the  validity  of  the  charter  was  at- 
tacked at  once  from  without  and  from  within.  The  col- 
ony's enemies  in  England  were  seeking  its  revocation, 
upon  the  ground  that  the  colonists  were  intending  rebellion 
and  were  seeking  to  cast  off  their  allegiance  and  be  wholly 
separate  from  Church  and  State.  The  colony's  enemy 
at  home — for  so  the  magistrates  could  not  fail  to  regard 
him — was  not  only  teaching  separation,  which  was  then, 
by  tradition  from  the  days  of  Elizabeth,  regarded  as  vir- 
tually an  attack  upon  the  throne  itself,  but  he  was,  in  his 
attack  upon  the  patent,  as  before  suggested,  attacking  at 
the  same  time  the  royal  prerogative.  Indeed  WilliamsN 
had  openly  declared  the  king  to  have  told  "a  solemn  public  J 
lie,  because,  in  his  patent,  he  blessed  God  that  he  was  the/ 
first  christian  prince  that  had  discovered  the  land."1 

When,  therefore,  the  charge  was  made  before  the  king 
and  council  that  the  "ministers  and  people  did  continually 
rail  against  the  State,  church  and  bishops,"  the  charge, 
so  far,  indeed,  as  it  applied  to  the  teacher  at  Salem,  could 


•Winthrop,  i,  145.» 


98  Roger  Williams 

not  truthfully  be  denied.  But  that  this  'was  not  correct 
regarding  the  ministers  and  people  generally,  the  records 
afford  ample  proof;  and  one  may  not  improperly  conclude 
that  this  is  the  correct  interpretation  of  Winthrop's  par- 
enthetical record,  that  the  charges  of  Mason  and  Gorges 
included  "some  truths  misrepeated. " 

The  assault  of  Williams  upon  the  royal  prerogative  was, 
perhaps,  the  most  serious  of  the  offences  against  the  crown, 
included  in  his  attack  upon  the  patent.  In  time  of  Charles 
I  and,  indeed,  until  the  abrogation  of  the  right,  in  the  reign 
of  Queen  Anne,  the  royal  prerogative  included  the  right 
to  alienate  crown  lands  at  pleasure.  On  account  of  the 
improvident  alienations  of  land  by  William  III,  the  crown 
was  deprived  of  this  right  by  statute,  early  in  the  reign 
of  Anne.  But  when  Roger  Williams  was  fulminating  in 
the  Colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  against  the  right  of 
King  Charles  to  grant  a  patent  to  lands  in  New  England, 
the  royal  prerogative,  in  this  respect,  was  in  full  force  and 
was  absolute.  As  a  matter  of  course,  the  contentions  of 
Williams  were  upon  moral  and  ethical,  rather  than  upon 
legal,  grounds;  and,  yet,  so  were,  in  all  respects,  the  con- 
tentions of  the  Separatists.  This  distinction,  however, 
did  not  serve  to  deliver  some  of  the  sect  in  England  from 
the  fires,  nor  did  it  deliver  others  from  distressing  imprison- 
ment. It  would  not  have  sufficed  to  have  delivered  Roger 
Williams,  had  he  been  within  the  reach  of  Archbishop 
Laud;  it  did  not  suffice  to  render  the  colonists  free  from 
opposition,  distress  and  apprehension. 


CHAPTER  VII 

It  was  less  than  a  year  after  Mr.  Williams  had  taken  up 
his  life  in  Salem  that  Mr.  Skelton,  the  pastor  of  the  Salem 
church,  died,  and  the  church  was  thus  left  without  a  head. 
This  event  occurred  in  August,  1634.  Despite  the  re- 
monstrance which  the  governor  and  other  magistrates 
had  registered  against  similar  action  in  1631,  and  despite 
the  turmoil  which  had  been  created  by  Mr.  Williams' 
assault  upon  the  patent,  and  still  more  recently  by  his 
attack  upon  the  freeman's  oath,  the  Salem  church  again  >^- 
called  him  to  the  office  of  teacher.  As  we  have  already 
seen,  in  November,  1634,  had  been  held  that  hastily 
called  special  meeting  of  the  governor  and  assistants,  at 
which  the  matter  of  the  mutilation  of  the  colors  had  been 
considered,  and  also  the  report  had  been  made  that  Will- 
iams had  broken  his  promise  to  the  magistrates,  and  had 
resumed  his  attack  upon  the  king's  patent. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  governor  and  assistants,  held  on^; 
the  second  day  of  April,  1635,  Mr.  Williams  was  requested 
to  present  himself.  The  ministers  of  the  colony  were 
also  present,  doubtless  by  invitation.  At  this  meeting 
Mr.  Williams  was  called  upon  to  justify  recent  teachings 
as  touching  the  right  of  the  magistrates,  from  a  theological 
point  of  view,  to  tender  an  oath  to  an  unregenerate  man. 
The  governor  thus  records  the  occurrence: — 

1635,  Mo.  2,  30. — The  governour  and  assistants  sent  for  Mr. 
Williams.  The  occasion  was  for  that  he  had  taught  publickly 
that  a  magistrate  ought  not  to  tender  an  oath  to  an  unregenerate 
man,  for  that  we  thereby  have  communion  with  a  wicked  man 
in  the  worship  of  God  and  cause  him  to  take  the  name  of  God 


100  Roger  Williams 

in  vain.  He  was  heard  before  all  the  ministers  and  very  clearly 
confuted.  Mr.  Endecott  was  at  first  of  the  same  opinion,  but 
he  gave  place  to  the  truth.1 

The  next  meeting  of  the  General  Court,  at  which 
meeting  Williams  had  been  summoned  to  appear  and 
answer  to  the  charge  made  against  him,  was  held  on  the 
eighth  day  of  July,  1635.  Governor  Winthrop's  record 
of  this  meeting  is  full  and  interesting: — 

1635,  Mo.  5,  8:[July  8]— At  the  general  court  Mr.  Williams 
of  Salem  was  summoned  and  did  appear.  It  was  laid  to  his 
charge  that  being  under  question  before  the  magistracy  and 
churches  for  divers  dangerous  opinions,  viz: 

1.  That  the  magistrate  ought  not  to  punish  the  breach  of  the 
first  table,  otherwise  than  in  such  cases  as  did  disturb  the  civil 
peace; 

2.  That  he  ought  not  to  tender  an  oath  to  an  unregenerate 
man; 

3.  That  a  man  ought  not  to  pray  with  such,  though  wife, 
child,  etc.; 

4.  That  a  man  ought  not  to  give  thanks  after  the  sacrament, 
nor  after  meat,  etc.,  and  that  the  other  churches  were  about  to 
write  to  the  church  of  Salem,  to  admonish  him  of  these  errors; 
notwithstanding  the  church  had  since  called  him  to  the  office 
of  teacher. 

Much  debate  was  about  these  things.  The  said  opinions  were 
adjudged  by  all,  magistrates  and  ministers  (who  were  desired  to 
be  present)  to  be  erroneous  and  very  dangerous,  and  the  calling 
of  him  to  office,  at  that  time,  was  judged  a  great  contempt  of 
authority.  So,  in  fine,  time  was  given  to  him  and  the  church 
of  Salem  to  consider  of  these  things  till  the  next  General  Court, 
and  then  either  to  give  satisfaction  to  the  court,  or  else  to  expect 
the  sentence;  it  being  professedly  declared  by  the  ministers, 
(at  the  request  of  the  court  to  give  their  advice)  that  he  should 
obstinately  maintain  such  opinions,  (whereby  a  church  might 


^Winthrop,  i,  157. 


A  Political  Pioneer  iOl 

run  into  heresy,  apostasy,  or  tyranny  and  yet  the  civil  magistrate 
could  not  intermedle,)  were  to  be  removed,  and  that  the  other 
churches  ought  to  request  the  magistrates  so  to  do.1 

This  action  of  the  General  Court  does  not  appear  to 
have  disturbed  him  against  whom  it  was  directed,  for, 
under  date  of  August  16,  1635,  Governor  Winthrop  re- 
cords : — 

1635,  Aug.  16 — Mr.  Williams,  pastor  of  the  church  at  Salem, 
being  sick  and  not  able  to  speak,  wrote  to  his  church  a  protesta- 
tion that  he  could  not  communicate  with  the  churches  in  the 
Bay;  neither  would  he  communicate  with  them  except  they 
would  refuse  to  communicate  with  the  rest;  but  the  whole  church 
was  grieved  therewith.2 

Mr.  Williams  now  determined  upon  an  heroic  mea- 
sure. The  magistrates,  with  a  view,  no  doubt,  of  ad- 
ministering some  sharp  discipline  to  the  Salem  church, 
for  insisting  upon  retaining  the  services  of  a  minister 
who  was  regarded  as  a  marplot,  refused  to  set  off  to 
that  church  "a  parcel  of  land  which  lay  commodious 
for  their  affairs,"  a  grant  of  which  the  church  had  pray- 
ed for.' 

Mr.  Williams,  vexed  at  this,  and  willing  also  to  set  the 
magistrates  at  defiance,  prevailed  upon  the  Salem  church 
to  address  letters  to  such  of  the  other  churches  of  the 
colony  as  included  members  of  the  magistracy  in  their 
membership.  These  letters  set  forth  the  claim  that  these 
magistrate  members  had  committed  "scandalous  injus- 
tice" and  deserved  to  be  disciplined  therefor. 

The  flint  was  now  striking  against  the  steel,. and  the 
sparks  filled  the  air.     The  General  Court  resented  this 


•Winthrop,  i,  193. 
«Winthrop,  i,  198. 
'Magnolia  Chruti  Americana,  i,  497. 


109:  Roger  Williams 

combined  act  of  Williams  and  the  Salem  church.  By 
vote  of  the  Court  the  Salem  deputies  were  temporarily 
deprived  of  their  seats  in  that  body,  and  were  "sent  back 
to  the  ffreemen  of  their  towne  that  sent  them,  to  fetch 
satisfaccon  for  their  Ires,  sent  to  the  seurall  churches, 
wherein  they  have  exceedingly  repched  &  vilifyed  the 
magistrates  &  deputys  of  the  General  Court,  or  els  the 
arguments  of  those  that  will  defend  the  same  with  the 
subscripcon  of  their  names."1 

Governor  Winthrop  makes  this  record  of  this  oc- 
currence:— 

1635,  Mo.  5,  12. — Salem  now  had  preferred  a  petition,  at  the 
last  General  Court,  for  some  land  in  Marblehead  Neck,  which 
they  did  challenge  as  belonging  to  their  town;  but  because  they 
had  chosen  Mr.  Williams  their  teacher,  while  he  stood  under 
question  of  authority  and  so  offered  contempt  to  the  magis- 
trates, &c,  their  petition  was  refused  till,  &c.  Upon  this  the 
church  of  Salem  write  to  other  churches  to  admonish  the  magis- 
trates of  this  as  a  heinous  sin,  and  likewise  the  deputies;  for 
which,  at  the  next  General  Court,  their  deputies  were  not  re 
ceived  until  they  should  give  satisfaction  about  the  letter.2 

Mr.  Endecott,  who  evidently  acted  as  spokesman  of 
the  Salem  delegation,  defended  the  action  of  the  Salem 
church,  and  protested  against  this  action.  The  General 
Court,  now  thoroughly  aroused,  promptly  declared  Mr. 
Endecott  to  be  in  contempt  and  ordered  his  commitment 
until  he  should  purge  himself.  He,  however,  with  equal 
promptness,  made  his  submission,  acknowledging  his 
offence  and  apologizing  therefor,   and  was  released.3 

This  exciting  incident  being  over,  the  General  Court 
returned  to  the  matter  under  consideration,  and  resolved 


Records,  i,  156. 
2Winthrop,  i,  164. 
'Records,  i,  156. 


A  Political  Pioneer  103 

that  if  the  majority  of  the  freemen  of  Salem  should  "  dis- 
ci aime  the  ires  sent  lately  from  the  church  of  Salem  to 
seuall  churches,"  the  ban  should  be  removed  and  the 
deputies  should  be  allowed  to  resume  their  seats  in  the 
General  Court. 

Having  thus  settled  matters  with  the  church  and  people 
of  Salem,  the  General  Court  turned  its  attention  to  Mr. 
Williams  and  proceeded  to  deal  with  him.  The  formal 
sentence  of  the  court,  as  entered  in  the  official  records  of 
the  Colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  reads  thus: 

Sept.  3,  1635. — Whereas  Mr.  Roger  Williams,  one  of  the 
elders  of  the  church  at  Salem,  hath  broached  &  dyvulged  dyvers 
newe  and  dangerous  opinions,  against  the  aucthority  of  magis- 
trates, as  also  writ  Ires  of  defamacon,  both  of  the  magistrates 
&  churches  here,  &  that  before  any  conviccon  &  yet  maine- 
taineth  the  same  without  retraccon,  it  is  therefore  ordered  that 
the  same  Mr.  Williams  shall  dpte  out  of  this  jurisdiccon  within 
six  weeks  nexte  ensueing,  wch  if  hee  neglect  to  pforme,  it  shalbe 
lawfull  for  the  gounr  &  two  of  the  magistrates  to  send  him  to 
some  place  out  of  this  jurisdiccon,  not  to  returne  any  more  with- 
out licence  from  the  court.1 

Immediately  following  this  record  is  inserted  this 
summons,  addressed  to  one  of  the  ruling  elders  of  the 
Salem  church: — 

Mr.  Samuel  Sharpe  [who  had  joined  with  Williams  in  signing 
the  letters]  is  enioyned  to  appeare  att  the  nexte  pticular  court 
to  answere  for  the  Ire  that  came  from  the  church  at  Salem,  as 
also  to  bring  the  names  of  those  that  will  iustifie  the  same,  or 
els  to  acknowledge  his  offence  vnder  his  owne  hand  for  his  owne 
pticular.2 

The  record  made  by  Governor  Winthrop  will  best  serve 
to  tell  his  story  of  this  exciting  and  important  episode : — 


•Records,  i,  160. 
3Ibid,  i,  161. 


104s  Roger  Williams 

1635,  October. — At  this  General  Court  Mr.  Williams,  the 
teacher  at  Salem,  was  again  convented  and  all  the  ministers 
in  the  Bay  being  desired  to  be  present,  he  was  charged  with  the 
said  two  letters, — that  to  the  churches,  complaining  of  the  magis- 
trates of  injustice,  extreme  oppression,  etc.,  and  the  other  to  his 
own  church,  to  persuade  them  to  renounce  communion  with  all 
the  churches  in  the  Bay,  as  full  of  anti-christian  pollution,  etc. 
He  justified  both  these  letters  and  maintained  all  his  opinions; 
and  being  offered  further  conference  or  disputation  and  a  month's 
respite  he  chose  to  dispute  presently.  So  Mr.  Hooker  was  ap- 
pointed to  dispute  with  him,  but  could  not  reduce  him  from  any 
of  his  errors.  So,  the  next  morning  the  court  sentenced  him  to 
depart  out  of  our  jurisdiction  within  six  weeks,  all  the  ministers, 
save  one,  approving  the  sentence;  and  his  own  church  had  him 
under  question  also  for  the  same  cause;  and  he,  at  his  return 
home,  refused  communion  with  his  own  church,  who  openly 
/  disclaimed  his  errors,  and  wrote  a  humble  submission  to  the 
magistrates,  acknowledging  their  fault  in  joining  with  Mr. 
Williams  in  that  letter  to  the  churches  against  them.1 

One  passage  at  arms  between  Williams  and  Hooker,  is 
worthy  of  record,  as  showing  the  method  of  argument  in 
vogue  at  that  day.  During  the  trial  of  Williams,  he  com- 
plained in  open  court,  that  he  was  wronged  by  a  slander- 
ous report,  that  he  held  it  unlawful  for  a  father  to  call 
upon  his  child  to  eat  his  meat.  Mr.  Hooker,  then  present, 
replied,  "Why!  you  will  say  as  much  again  if  you  stand 
to  your  own  principles,  or  be  driven  to  say  nothing  at 
all."  Mr.  Williams  expressing  his  confidence  that  he 
should  never  say  it,  Mr.  Hooker  proceeded: 

"If  it  be  unlawful  to  call  an  unregenerate  person  to  pray, 
since  it  is  an  action  of  God's  worship,  then  it  is  unlawful  for 
your  unregenerate  child  to  pray  for  a  blessing  upon  his  own 
meat.     If  it  be  unlawful  for  him  to  pray  for  a  blessing  upon  his 


TOnthrop,  i,  204. 


A  Political  Pioneer  105 

meat,  it  is  unlawful  for  him  to  eat  it;  for  it  is  sanctified  by  prayer, 
and  without  prayer  unsanctified:  (I  Tim:  iv,  4,  5.)  If  it  be 
unlawful  for  him  to  eat  it,  it  is  unlawful  for  you  to  call  upon 
him  to  eat  it,  for  it  is  unlawful  for  you  to  call  upon  him  to  sin." 
Hereupon  M.  Williams  chose  to  hold  his  peace,  rather  than  to 
make  any  answer.1 

It  is  a  matter  of  no  importance  to  the  narrative,  but  yet 
one  of  some  human  interest,  to  recall  the  fact  that,  in 
the  matter  of  controversy,  Mr.  Hooker  and  Mr.  Williams 
were  old  antagonists;  for  does  not  the  reader  remember 
the  historic  ride  of  Williams,  in  company  with  John 
Cotton  and  Thomas  Hooker,  to  and  from  Sempringham, 
the  three  discoursing  and  arguing  by  the  way  concerning 
the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  ? 

The  summary  proceedings  of  the  General  Court  appear 
to  have  had  their  effect  upon  the  Salem  church,  so  that 
it  awoke  to  realize  that  much  of  the  teaching  to  which 
they  had  listened  and  had  subscribed  was  tending  to 
bring  the  colony  into  serious  conflict  with  the  king  and 
his  privy  council.  The  church,  therefore,  receded  from 
the  position  which  it  had  assumed,  of  antagonism  towards 
the  magistrates.  This  retraction  on  the  part  of  the  church 
was  not  met  with  equanimity  by  Mr.  Williams,  and  he 
sharply  demanded  that  his  church  should  withdraw  from 
all  communion  with  the  churches  of  the  Bay.  But  his 
influence,  potent  as  it  was,  was  not  sufficient  to  effect  this 
result.  Deeply  chagrined,  Mr.  Williams  then  renounced 
communion  with  the  Salem  church,  as  well  as  with  the^ 
other  churches  of  the  colony,  and  established  a  service 
of  preaching  in  his  own  house.  To  these  exercises  none 
were  admitted  save  those  few  who  still  adhered  to  his 
fortunes.     Even  his  wife,  who  persisted  in  attending  the 

lMagnalia  Christi  Americana,  ii,  498. 


106  Roger  Williams 

services  of  the  church  was  excluded  from  these  secret 
ministrations.  Of  this  episode  in  the  career  of  this  re- 
markable man  Cotton  Mather  made  this  record: — 

The  neighbouring  churches,  both  by  petition  and  messengers. 
took  such  happy  pains  with  the  church  at  Salem  as  presently 
recovered  that  flock  to  a  sense  of  his  aberrations;  which  Mr. 
Williams  perceiving,  though  he  had  a  little  before  bragged  that 
"of  all  the  churches  in  the  world  those  of  New  England  were 
the  purest;  and  of  all  in  New  England  that  whereof  himself  was 
the  teacher;"  yet  he  now,  staying  at  home,  sent  unto  the  church 
of  Salem  then  assembled,  a  letter  to  give  them  notice'  *'that  if 
they  would  not  separate  as  well  from  the  churches  of  New  Eng- 
land as  of  Old,  he  would  separate  from  them."  His  more  con- 
siderate church  not  yielding  to  these  lewd  proposals,  he  never 
would  come  to  their  assemblies  any  more;  no,  nor  uold  any 
com  union  in  any  exercise  of  religion  with  any  person,  so  much 
as  his  own  wife,  that  went  up  unto  their  assemblies;  but  at  the 
same  time  he  kept  a  meeting  in  his  own  house,  whereto  resorted 
such  as  he  had  infected  with  his  extravagances.1 

And  so  the  die  was  cast,  and  it  was  determined  to  take 
advantage  of  the  provision  of  the  charter  of  the  colony 
which,  as  we  have  already  seen,  allowed  the  magistrates 
to  "  expulse  and  repel  by  all  fitting  ways  and  means  what- 
soever all  such  person  and  persons  as  shall  at  any  time 
hereafter  attempt  or  enterprise  the  detriment  or  annoyance 
to  the  said  plantation  or  its  inhabitants." 

'And  yet,  the  General  Court  of  the  Bay  Colony  cannot 
be  regarded  as  having  acted  hastily  in  the  case  of  Roger 
Williams.  On  the  contrary  on  account,  no  doubt,  of 
his  many  estimable  qualities  and  his  excellent  personal 
^character,  they  had  acted  with  the  greatest  moderation 
and  caution. 

The  court,  about  a  year  before  they  proceeded  unto  the  ban- 


lMagnalia  Christi  Americana,  I  496,  497. 


A  Political  Pioneer  107 

ishment  of  this  incendiary,  (writes  Cotton  Mather,)  sent  for  the 
pastors  of  the  neighbouring  churches  to  intimate  unto  them 
their  design  of  thus  proceeding  against  him;  which  yet  they 
were  loth  to  do,  before  they  had  advised  the  elders  of  it,  because 
he  was  himself  an  elder.  Mr.  Cotton,  with  the  consent  of  the 
other  ministers,  presented  a  request  unto  the  magistrates  that 
they  would  please  to  forbear  prosecuting  of  him,  till  they  them- 
selves, with  their  churches  had,  in  a  church  way,  endeavored 
his  conviction  and  repentance;  for  they  alledged  that  they  hoped 
his  violences  proceeded  rather  from  a  misguided  conscience 
than  from  a  seditious  principle.  The  governor  foretold  unto 
them,  "You  are  deceived  in  the  man  if  you  think  he  will  con- 
descend to  learn  of  any  of  you;"  however,  the  proposal  of  the 
ministers  was  approved  and  allowed.  But  several  of  the  churches 
having  taken  the  best  pains  they  could,  tho'  they  happily  brought 
the  church  of  Salem  to  join  with  them  in  dealing  with  the  man, 
vet  the  effect  was  that  he  renounced  them  all  as  no  churches  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Whereupon  the  court  ordered  his  \/ 
removal  out  of  the  jurisdiction.1 

It  must  be  understood  also  that  the  case  of  Mr. 
Williams  did  not  stand  alone  in  punishment  administered 
for  what  was  regarded  as  seditious  utterance.  Some 
months  previous  to  the  banishment  of  Williams,  the 
case  of  Israel  Stoughton  had  been  brought  before  the 
court  and  had  attracted  no  little  attention.  The  record 
reads: — 

Whereas  Mr.  Israel  Stoughton  hath  written  a  certain  booke 
wch  hath  occasioned  much  trouble  and  offence  to  the  court,  the 
sd  Mr.  Stoughton  did  desire  of  the  court  that  sd  booke  might 
forthwith  be  burnt  as  being  weake  and  offensiue.3 

This  submission  on  the  part  of  the  offender  did  not, 
however,  serve  to  relieve  him  of  the  consequences  of  his 


Magnolia  Christi  Americana,  i,  497. 
'Records,  i,  135. 


108  Roger  Williams 

indiscretion;  for  at  the  same  session  of  the  General  Court 
sentence  was  pronounced  upon  him,  as  follows: — 

It  is  ordered  that  Mr.  Israel  Stoughton  shalbe  disenabled 
for  bearing  any  publ  office  in  the  comonwealth  within  this 
jurisdiccon  for  the  space  of  three  years,  for  affirmeing  the  Assis- 
tants were  noe  magistrates.1 

At  the  same  session  of  the  Court  at  which  Williams 
was  banished,  we  find  by  the  records  that  one  John  Smyth, 
"for  dyvers  dangerous  opinions  wch  hee  holdeth  &  hath 
dyvulged,"  was  also  ordered  to  depart  from  the  limits 
of  the  colony  within  the  six  weeks  next  ensuing.2 

But  Mr.  Williams  did  not  at  once  take  his  departure 
from  the  limits  of  the  colony,  in  obedience  to  the  command 
of  the  Great  and  General  Court.  The  winter  was  ap- 
proaching, and  Mr.  Williams'  health  was  none  of  the  best. 
Whether  he  requested  a  stay  of  his  sentence  until  spring, 
or  whether  the  privilege  was  granted  by  the  magistrates 
as  an  act  of  courtesy,  or  perhaps  of  mercy,  cannot  be 
determined.  That  the  birth  of  a  child  to  him  was  at 
this  time  anticipated  is  beyond  doubt.  That  his  sentence 
was  suspended  is  undoubtedly  true,  and  this  upon  the 
tacit,  if  not  actually  expressed,  understanding  that  he 
should  refrain,  in  the  interim,  from  further  promulgating 
those  ideas  which  had  proved  so  obnoxious,  and  which 
had  so  nearly  resulted,  by  their  open  publication,  in 
disrupting  the  colony.  To  publish  these  ideas  was,  how- 
ever, with  him  a  matter  of  conscience — or  of  self-will — for 
he  continued  to  do  so  without  cessation.  It  soon  be- 
came known  that  he  was  accustomed  to  gather  together 
congregations  at  his  own  house  at  Salem,  to  whom  he 
continued  to  inveigh  against  the  king's  charter.    It  is  quite 


'Ibid,  i,  136. 
2Ibid,  i,  159. 


A  Political  Pioneer  109 

probable  that,  had  he  confined  himself  to  theology  alone,  the 
magistrates,  making  wry  faces  perhaps,  might  neverthe- 
less have  refrained  from  enforcing  their  sentence.  But 
that  he  should  continue  to  attack  the  patent,  and, 
moreover,  should  attempt  to  create  schism  in  the  body 
politic,  and  thus  still  further  endanger  the  permanency 
of  their  charter,  was  not  to  be  endured.  To  have  tempted 
the  Salem  church  to  withdraw  from  fellowship  and  com- 
munion with  the  other  churches  of  the  Bay  was  to  tempt 
them  to  secede  from  political  union  with  the  colony  (thus 
in  some  measure  anticipating  the  events  of  1861.) 

It  was  then  determined,  at  a  meeting  of  the  governor 
and  assistants  held  in  the  ensuing  January,  that  he  should 
be  sent  to  England  (as  had  been  other  malcontents)  in  a 
ship  that  was  about  to  sail.  This  determination  was 
reached  the  more  readily,  since  the  rumor  was  spread 
abroad  that  Mr.  Williams  had  drawn  about  twenty  per- 
sons to  his  opinions,  and  that  he  was  planning  to  lead 
them  out  of  the  Bay  Colony  into  the  Narragansett  country 
there  to  erect  a  plantation.  It  was  feared  that,  were  this 
done,  "the  infection  would  easily  spread  into  these 
churches." 

A  summons  was  first  sent  to  him  to  come  to  Boston; 
but  he  pleaded  illness  and  declined  to  obey  the  summons. 
Captain  John  Underhill — the  same  who  had  taken  Sir 
Christopher  Gardiner,  a  few  years  before,  under  arrest 
from  Plymouth  to  Boston — was  despatched  in  a  sail- 
boat to  Salem,  with  orders  to  apprehend  Williams  and 
place  him  on  board  a  vessel  bound  for  England,  then 
lying  at  Nantasket  Roads.  But  when  Underhill  and  his 
party  reached  the  dwelling  of  Williams  at  Salem,  they 
found  that  he  had  fled  three  days  before.  Whither  he 
had  gone  they  were  not  able  to  learn.  Winthrop  thus 
records  the  occurrence: 


A 


110  Roger  Williams 

11  Mo.,  Jan.  1635. — The  governour  and  assistants  met  at 
Boston  to  consider  about  Mr.  Williams,  for  they  were  credibly 
informed  that,  notwithstanding  the  injunction  laid  upon  him 
(upon  the  liberty  granted  him  to  stay  till  the  spring)  not  to  go 
about  to  draw  others  to  his  opinions,  he  did  use  to  entertain 
company  in  his  house  and  to  preach  to  them,  even  of  such  points 
as  he  had  been  censured  for;  and  it  was  agreed  to  send  him  into 
England,  by  a  ship  then  ready  to  depart.  The  reason  was  be- 
cause he  had  drawn  above  twenty  persons  to  his  opinions,  and 
they  were  intended  to  erect  a  plantation  about  the  Narragansett 
Bay,  from  whence  the  infection  would  easily  spread  into  these 
churches,  (the  people  being,  many  of  them  much  taken  with  the 
apprehension  of  his  godliness).  Whereupon  a  warrant  was  sent 
to  him  to  come  presently  to  Boston,  to  be  shipped,  etc.  He 
returned  answer  (and  divers  of  Salem  came  with  it)  that  he 
could  not  come  without  hazard  of  his  life,  etc.  Whereupon  a 
pinnace  was  sent  with  commission  to  Capt.  Underhill,  etc., 
to  apprehend  him  and  carry  him  aboard  the  ship,  (which  then 
rode  at  Natascutt,  [Nantasket])  but  when  they  came  at  his  home 
they  found  he  had  been  gone  three  days  before;  but  whither 
they  could  not  learn.  He  had  so  far  prevailed  at  Salem  as  many 
there  (especially  devout  women)  did  embrace  his  opinions  and 
separated  from  the  churches  for  this  cause,  that  some  of  their 
members,  going  into  England,  did  hear  the  ministers  there  and 
when  they  came  home  the  churches  held  communion  with  them.1 

This,  then,  was  the  close  of  the  career  of  Roger  Williams 
in  the  Bay  Colony.  It  had  been  of  but  four  years'  dura- 
tion, but  within  that  time  the  people  of  the  Bay,  who  had 
left  England  mainly  to  escape  from  religious  controversies, 
had  found  their  lives  scarcely  more  free  from  discussion 
and  dissension  than  in  the  old  country.  The  disputants 
upon  the  occasion  of  the  famous  ride  to  Sempringham 
were  all  in  New  England;  and  he  who  precipitated  the 
controversy  over  the  use  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer, 


lWinthrop,  i,  209. 


A  Political  Pioneer  111 

was  ever  ready  with  fresh  causes  of  dispute.  His  lance 
was  ever  poised  in  its  rest;  and,  whether  the  question  was 
one  involving  the  most  serious  political  considerations, 
or  one  concerning  a  trivial  detail  in  woman's  attire,  the 
knight  was  ever  ready  with  parry  and  thrust,  to  enforce 
his  opinions  against  all  the  world. 

Roger  Williams  now  disappears  from  the  Colony  of 
Massachusetts  Bay  and  passes  out  of  the  life  of  its  people. 
We  shall  see,  however,  that  he  was  not  forgotten,  and 
that  he  was  by  many,  and  especially  by  Winthrop,  held  v^ 
in  high  esteem  for  his  many  excellent  personal  qualities. 
Many  friendly  and  even  affectionate  epistles  passed  be- 
tween the  two  men,  during  the  years  which  followed.  ^ 
Williams,  who  was  on  terms  of  friendship  with  the  Indians, 
several  times,  as  we  shall  see,  gave  valuable  information 
to  Winthrop  and  through  him  to  the  Bay  Colony,  of  in- 
tended hostilities,  and  enabled  him  to  ward  off  approach- 
ing danger.  But,  notwithstanding  this  friendly  inter- 
course, the  Bay  Colony  preferred  to  lavish  its  affection 
upon  Mr.  Williams  by  letter,  rather  than  by  personal 
contact,  and  persistently,  despite  the  request  of  influential 
friends,  declined  to  abate  by  a  single  jot,  the  letter  of  its 
resolution  of  banishment. 


V 


CHAPTER  VIII 

The  reader  who  has  followed  closely  the  career  of  Mr. 
Williams  while  in  the  colonies  of  Plymouth  and  Massa- 
chusetts Bay,  can  but  be  struck  with  one  trait  of  char- 
acter which  predominated  all.  This  was  the  intense 
love  of  controversy  and  of  forensic  argument.  Whatever 
was  the  subject  which  had  been  brought  forward  for  dis- 
cussion, he  was  foremost  amqng  the  disputants,  excelling 
all  others  in  the  intensity  of  his  argumentation.  So  fully 
did  this  trait  dominate  his  character  that  neither  his  own 
personal  well-being,  nor  the  public  welfare,  served  to  check 
his  impetuosity.  It  would  appear  from  a  careful  con- 
sideration of  all  the  circumstances  connected  with  his 
final  expulsion  from  the  Bay  Colony,  that  it  was  not  the 
fact  that  he  held  certain  "newe  and  dangerous  opinions," 
but  that  he  "broached  and  dyvulged"  them,  and  that 
persistently,  to  the  serious  danger  of  the  body  politic, 
which  caused  the  magistrates  reluctantly  to  take  the  final 
action  in  his  case. 

More  than  one  hundred  years  after  the  escape  of  Roger 
Williams  from  Salem,  to  evade  arrest  at  the  hands  of 
John  Underhill,  the  wisest  man  then  living  in  all  England 
discussed  among  his  friends,  this  selfsame  point  of  po- 
litical ethics,  and  reached  the  same  conclusion  as  did 
Winthrop  and  his  Assistants. 

At  a  dinner  at  the  house  of  Edward  and  Charles  Dilly, 
booksellers,  in  London,  in  the  year  1773,  Dr.  Samuel 
Johnson  was  the  chief  guest.  About  the  board  among 
others  were  seated  Boswell,  the  future  biographer;  Oliver 
Goldsmith;  Dr.  Toplady,  whose  name  has  safe  immor- 


A  Political  Pioneer  113 

tality  in  the  hymn,  "Rock  of  Ages";  and  Dr.  Mayo,  a 
dissenting  clergyman — truly  a  representative  company. 
The  subject  of  toleration  was  broached,  and  a  discussion 
ensued,  all  present  listening  with  interest  to  Dr.  Johnson 
as  he  discoursed  upon  the  theme.  "Every  society," 
said  Johnson,  "has  a  right  to  preserve  public  peace  and 
order,  and,  therefore,  has  a  good  right  to  prohibit  the 
propagation  of  opinions  which  have  a  dangerous  tendency. 
To  say  the  magistrate  has  this  right  is  using  an  inadequate 
word;  it  is  the  society  for  which  the  magistrate  is  agent. 
He  may  be  morally  or  theologically  wrong  in  restraining 
the  propagation  of  opinions  which  he  thinks  dangerous, 
but  he  is  politically  right." 

Said  Dr.  Mayo:  "I  am  of  opinion,  sir,  that  every  man 
is  entitled  to  liberty  of  conscience  in  religion;  and  that 
the  magistrate  cannot  restrain  that  right." 

"Sir,  I  agree  with  you,"  replied  Dr.  Johnson.  "Every 
man  has  a  right  to  liberty  of  conscience  and  with  that 
the  magistrate  cannot  interfere.  People  confound  liberty 
of  thinking  with  liberty  of  talking,  nay,  with  liberty  of 
preaching.  Every  man  has  a  physical  right  to  think  as 
he  pleases;  for  it  cannot  be  discovered  how  he  thinks. 
He  has  not  a  moral  right,  for  he  ought  to  inform  himself 
and  think  justly.  But,  sir,  no  member  of  a  society  has 
a  right  to  teach  any  doctrine  contrary  to  what  the  society 
holds  to  be  true.  The  magistrate,  I  say,  may  be  wrong 
in  what  he  thinks;  but  while  he  thinks  himself  right, 
he  may  and  ought  to  enforce  what  he  thinks." 

"But,  sir,  is  it  not  very  hard,"  argued  Dr.  Mayo, 
"that  I  should  not  be  allowed  to  teach  my  children  what 
I  really  believe  to  be  the  truth?" 

"Why,  sir,"  returned  Johnson,  "you  might  contrive 
to  teach   your  children    extra    scandalum;  but,  sir,  the 


114  Roger  Williams 

magistrate,  if  he  knows  it,  has  a  right  to  restrain  you. 
Suppose  you  teach  your  children  to  be  thieves. " 

"This  is  making  a  joke  of  the  subject,"  remonstrated 
Dr.  Mayo. 

"Nay,  sir,  take  it  thus,"  said  Dr.  Johnson,  "that  you 
teach  them  the  community  of  goods;  for  which  there  are 
as  many  plausible  arguments  as  for  most  erroneous 
doctrines.  You  teach  them  that  all  things  at  first  were 
in  common,  and  that  no  man  had  a  right  to  anything  but 
as  he  laid  his  hands  upon  it;  and  that  this  still  is,  or  ought 
to  be,  the  rule  among  mankind.  Here,  sir,  you  sap  a 
great  principle  in  society, — property.  And  don't  you 
think  the  magistrate  would  have  a  right  to  prevent  you? 
Or,  suppose  you  should  teach  your  children  the  notion  of 
the  Adamites  and  they  should  run  naked  into  the  streets, 
would  not  the  magistrate  have  a  right  to  flog  them  into 
their  doublets?" 

"I  think,"  said  Dr.  Mayo,  "the  magistrate  has  no  right 
to  interfere  till  there  is  some  overt  act." 

"So,  sir,"  interposed  Boswell,  "though  he  sees  an 
enemy  to  the  State  charging  a  blunderbuss,  he  is  not  to 
interfere  till  it  is  fired  off." 

"He  must  be  sure  of  its  direction  against  the  State," 
insisted  Dr.  Mayo. 

"The  magistrate  is  to  judge  of  that,"  said  Johnson. 
"If  I  think  it  right  to  steal  Mr.  Dilly's  plate,  I  am  a  bad 
man;  but  he  can  say  nothing  to  me.  If  I  make  an  open 
declaration  that  I  think  so,  he  will  keep  me  out  of  his 
house.  If  I  put  forth  my  hand  I  shall  be  sent  to  New- 
gate. This  is  the  gradation  of  thinking,  preaching  and 
acting;  if  a  man  thinks  erroneously,  he  may  keep  his 
thoughts  to  himself  and  nobody  will  trouble  him;  if  he 
preaches  erroneous  doctrine,  society  may  expel  him;  if 


fA  Political  Pioneer  115 

he  acts  in  consequence  of  it,  the  law  takes  place  and  he 
is  hanged." 

"Sir,"  said  Dr.  Toplady,  "you  have  untwisted  this 
difficult  subject  with  great  dexterity,"1 

Such,  doubtless,  were  the  arguments  which  Winthrop 
and  the  magistrates  of  the  Bay  employed  in  considering 
the  case  of  Williams.  A  careful  survey  of  all  the  cir- 
cumstances and  a  study  of  the  political  conditions  at  the 
time,  can  but  assure  the  student  that  it  was  the  political,  fc( 
far  more  than  the  religious,  aspect  of  the  case  which 
created  the  chief  alarm  among  the  colonists,  and  pre- 
cipitated their  final  rupture  with  Williams.  The  Pilgrims 
of  Plymouth  were  Separatists,  and  to  them  he  resorted 
when  he  discovered  that  the  people  of  the  Bay  were  not 
in  formal  accord  with  this  wing  of  English  non-conformists. 
But,  notwithstanding  his  agreement  with  the  Plymouth 
brethren,  touching  their  relations  to  the  English  church, 
he  soon  was  at  variance  with  them  upon  other  points.  ^ 
Even  the  narHd*  mannered  Bradford,  although  recognizing 
his  godliness  and  zeal,  and  his  possession  of  "many  pre- 
cious parts,"  lost  his  patience  with  Williams.  He  began, 
the  governor  tells  us,  "to  fall  into  some  strange  opinions, 
and  from  opinion  to  practise. "  It  may  be  that  Bradford, 
and  the  people  of  Plymouth,  had  Williams  contented 
himself  with  cherishing  his  unusual  opinions,  and  had 
refrained  from  "practise,"  might  yet  have  borne  with 
him.  In  so  doing,  they  would  have  been  in  full  agree- 
ment with  the  arguments  of  Dr.  Johnson,  advanced  a 
century  later. 

What  were  these  strange  opinions  and  practices  with 
which  he  vexed  the  Plymouth  brethren?  Governor 
Bradford  gives  us  no  hint,  neither  does  Nathaniel  Morton, 


,BoawelTs  Life  of  Johnson,  Geo.  Birbeck  Hill,  ed.  1891,  ii,  286,  et  aeq. 


116  Roger  Williams 

the  secretary  of  the  plantation,  in  his  New  England7 
Memorial.  We  must  conclude  that  the  differences  be 
tween  the  church  and  him,  which  resulted  from  his  pro- 
mulgation of  his  opinions,  were  chiefly  religious  and  that 
v  his  failure  to  lead  them  into  the  light,  as  he  saw  it,  was 
the  cause  of  his  abrupt  withdrawal  from  Plymouth.  We 
know,  however,  that  Mr.  Williams  prepared  his  treatise, 
in  which  he  made  his  first  attack  upon  the  king's  patent, 
during  his  sojourn  at  Plymouth;  and  it  is  not  impossible 
that  he  may  have  made  this  attack  public  while  there. 

At  all  events,  removing  to  Salem,  Williams  almost  im- 
^  mediately  began  an  open  attack  upon  the  moral  validity 
of  the  charter  of  the  Bay  Colony.  Reproved  for  this, 
and  shown  the  danger  to  the  colony,  which  must  neces- 
sarily follow  the  promulgation  of  such  ideas,  he  at  first 
expressed  regret  and  assured  the  magistrates  of  the  Bay 
that  he  had  written  the  treatise  only  for  the  private  satis- 
faction of  the  governor  and  others  of  Plymouth.  He 
offered  his  treatise  to  be  burnt,  and  promised  to  desist 
from  the  propagation  of  his  opinions. 

But  this  promise  was  soon  broken.  He  not  only  in- 
veighed, early  and  late,  against  the  patent,  but,  when  a 
/  disruption  of  the  colony  was  threatened,  and  when  it 
was  feared  that  their  foes  might  be  those  of  their  own 
household,  he  also  attempted  to  create  a  feeling  of  discon- 
tent and  opposition  to  the  oath  of  fealty. 

In  points  of  theological  controversy,  as  well,  Mr. 
Williams  put  himself  at  variance  with  the  other  ministers 
of  the  Bay  Colony.  In  this  he  continued  the  habit  formed 
while  at  Plymouth,  or,  as  is  probably  true,  he  showed 
forth  his  natural  character.  Possessed  of  an  even  temper 
and  a  sweet  disposition,  he  had  also  that  anomalous 
characteristic,  a  disputatious  spirit.  He  dearly  loved 
controversy:  he  courted  opposition. 


A  Political  Pioneer  117 

It  is  somewhat  remarkable  that,  if  we  except  Win- 
throp *s  announcement  of  his  arrival,  no  allusion  is  made 
to  Williams,  by  any  of  the  colonial  historians  and  annalists, 
save  by  way  of  recording  what  were  regarded  as  vagaries. 
Winthrop  of  Boston,  Bradford  and  Morton  of  Plymouth, 
and  Hubbard  of  Ipswich,  near  Salem,  substantially  agree 
in  their  estimate  of  this  man.  And  yet,  disputatious  as 
he  was,  Williams  was  in  no  wise  of  a  quarrelsome  dis-  ^ 
position.  "We  have  often  tried  your  patience,"  wrote 
Winthrop  to  Williams,  years  after,  "but  could  never  con- 
quer it."1  Thus  the  governor  of  Massachusetts  united 
with  the  governor  of  Plymouth  in  paying  tribute  to  the 
excellent  personal  qualities  of  the  man  of  whom,  as  mag- 
istrates, they  could  not  approve. 

But  although  we  can  glean  from  the  historians  of  the 
period,  little  or  nothing  concerning  the  life  of  Williams, 
save  that  he  seems  to  have  been  constantly  engaged  in 
controversy,  we  learn  from  the  writings  of  Williams  him- 
self that  he  passed  his  time,  both  while  at  Plymouth  and 
Salem,  in  religious  exercises  and  in  labor  with  his  hands. 
Among  the  Indians,  too,  he  labored,  dwelling  with  them 
often  in  their  homes,  that  he  might  have  opportunity  for 
learning  their  language,  and  so  be  enabled  to  preach  to 
them  the  gospel.  "God  was  pleased  to  give  me  a  pain- 
ful patient  spirit,"  he  wrote,  years  after,  in  a  communica- 
tion to  the  General  Court  in  Providence,  "to  lodge  with 
them  in  their  filthy  smoke  holes,  (even  while  I  lived  in 
Plymouth  and  Salem)  to  gain  their  tongue."  And  again, 
in  the  same  paper  he  says:  "My  soul's  desire  was  to 
do  the  natives  good,  and  to  that  end  to  have  their  tongue.  "a 

He  devoted  attention  also  to  the  material  as  well  as 


'Proc.  Mass.  His.  Soc.  1855-158,  314. 
7Rhode  Island  Historical  Tracts,  xiv,  53,  54. 


118  Roger  Williams 

to  the  spiritual,  and  opened  up,  for  his  own  account,  an 
extensive  trade  with  the  natives,  purchasing  the  pelts 
collected  in  the  chase,  and  disposing  of  them  to  the  English 
traders.  This  we  learn  from  a  letter  written  by  him  many 
years  later,  to  Major  Mason,  wherein  he  recounts  his 
troubles  and  his  triumphs.  "I  was  sorely  tossed,  for 
one  fourteen  weeks,"  he  writes,  "in  a  bitter  winter  season, 
not  knowing  what  bread  or  bed  did  mean,  beside  the 
yearly  loss  of  no  small  matter  in  my  trading  with  English 
and  natives,  being  debarred  from  Boston,  the  chief  mart 
and  port  of  New  England.  God  knows  that  many  thousand 
pounds  cannot  repay  the  very  temporary  losses  I  have 
sustained."1 

Two  circumstances  lead  the  student,  however  unwilling- 
ly, to  suspect,  in  the  study  of  the  character  of  Williams, 
a  shade  of  inconsistency,  which  had  its  origin  in  an  illogical 
habit  of  thought.  He  attacked  with  vigor  the  oath  of 
fealty,  and,  indeed,  declared  against  all  forms  of  oath,  to 
which  any  unregenerate  person  should  be  a  party;  and 
yet  we  find,  as  already  recorded,  that  he  himself,  in  May, 
1631,  had  not  scrupled  to  take  the  freeman's  oath.3  It 
is  to  be  urged,  to  be  sure,  that  there  was  another  settler 
named  Roger  Williams,  an  inhabitant  of  Dorchester, 
and  it  is  not  impossible,  but  entirely  probable,  that  this 
may  have  been  the  man,  and  not  his  clerical  contemporary, 
who  was  admitted  to  be  a  freeman. 

But  a  similar  explanation  cannot  be  urged,  when  we 
consider  his  long  continued  and  persistent  attack  upon 
the  validity  of  the  colonists'  title  to  the  land  upon  which 
their  homes  had  been  built;  and  remember,  that  at  the 
same  time,  he  himself  was  the  owner  of  a  homestead  estate 
in  Salem.     The  shrewd  man  of  business  surely  will  not 


'Pub.  Nar.  Club,  vi,  336. 


A  Political  Pioneer  119 

accept  the  title-deeds  of  a  piece  of  real  property,  the  title 
to  which  he  has  reason  to  believe  is  clouded;  neither 
would  it  seem,  would  a  genuinely  sincere  critic  of  the 
moral  validity  of  a  royal  patent,  conveying  title  to  a  tract 
of  land,  consent  to  acquire  for  himself  ownership  in  a 
portion  of  that  land,  the  title  to  which  should  be  gained 
through  the  holders  of  that  patent. 

That  Roger  Williams  was  the  owner  of  real  property 
in  Salem,  prior  to  his  departure  from  that  town,  is  made 
certain  in  an  extract  from  a  letter  to  John  Winthrop, 
written  about  two  years  subsequent  to  the  settlement  at 
Providence. 

Roger  Williams  to  John  Winthrop 
To  his  much  honored  Mr.  Governor  John  Winthrop, 

Providence,  [June,  1638] 
*-*  *  *  *  *  * 

Secondly,  a  word  in  mine  own  particular,  only  for  informa- 
tion. I  owe  between  50  and  60  U  to  Mr.  Cradock  for  commodi- 
ties received  from  Mr.  Mayhew.  Mr.  Mayhew  will  testify  that 
(being  Mr.  Cradock's  agent)  he  was  content  to  take  payment, 
what  (and  when)  my  house  at  Salem  yielded:  accordingly  I  long 
since  put  it  into  his  hand  and  he  into  Mr.  Jollies*,  who  beside 
my  voluntary  act  and  his  attachment  since,  sues  as  I  hear  for 
damages,  which  I  questioned;  since  I  have  not  failed  against 
contract  and  content  of  the  first  agent,  but  the  holy  pleasure  of 
the  Lord  be  done;  unto  whose  merciful  arms  (with  all  due 
respect)  I  leave  you,  wishing  heartily  that  mercy  and  goodness 
may  ever  follow  you  and  yours.     Roger  Williams. 

He  makes  further  allusion  to  his  ownership  of  real 
property  in  Salem  in  a  letter  written  in  the  year  1677  and 
addressed  to  the  commissioners  of  the  respective  colonies 
assembled  at  Providence.     "J  mortgaged  my  house  and 


120  Roger  Williams 

land  at  Salem,"  he  wrote,  "(with  some  hundredths)  for 
supplies  to  go  through."* 

But  it  is  not  alone  his  personal  ownership  of  a  parcel 
of  real  estate,  within  the  bounds  covered  by  the  patent, 
which  suggests  an  illogical  mind.  The  matter  which 
well  nigh  led  to  a  schism  between  the  Salem  church  and 
the  other  churches  of  the  Bay,  was  the  refusal  of  the 
General  Court  to  set  off  to  the  former  a  grant  of  land  at 
Marblehead  Neck;  and  it  was  this  refusal  which  i  npelled 
Williams,  in  behalf  of  the  Salem  church  to  write  to  the 
other  churches  the  letters  of  censure  of  the  magistrates; 
which  letters  were  the  cause  of  the  final  rupture  between 
Williams,  the  Salem  church,  and  the  magistracy  of  the 
Bay.  Would  not  a  perfectly  logical  mind  have  decided 
that,  since  the  patent  had  been  wrongfully  granted,  and 
should  be  surrendered  back  to  the  king,  all  grants  of 
land,  received  under  that  patent  were  equally  improper 
and  sinful?  The  argument  is  certainly  valid,  that,  if 
the  colonists  had  wrongfully  received  a  grant  of  land  from 
the  hand  of  the  king,  which  land  he  had  no  right  to  alien- 
ate from  the  natives,  then  the  grant  of  a  portion  of  that 
land  by  the  colony  to  an  individual,  or  to  a  corporate 
body,  could  be  founded  upon  no  true  title. 

The  student  of  the  character  and  career  of  Roger  Will- 

v  iams  cannot  fail  to  perceive  that,  prior  to  his  expulsion 

>s4  from  the  Colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  all  of  the  con- 

j    troversies  in  which  he  engaged — if  we  may  except  his 

treatise    against   the   patent,    which   was    burned — were 

conducted  orally,  and  were  never  committed  to  writing; 

after  the  removal  from  Salem  and  the  foundation  of  the 

Providence  Plantations,  he  had  resort  to  the  pen,  and 

conducted   a   series   of   vigorous   controversial   writings, 


»R.    I.  Hist.  Tracts,  xvi,  52. 


Roger  Williams'   Dwelling  at  Salem,   Mass. 
Later  occupied  by  Judge  Carwin,  one  of  the  judges  in  the  witchcraft  trials 


A  Political  Pioneer  121 

notably  with  John  Cotton.  Hence  there  is  no  record  X 
of  his  life  in  Plymouth  and  in  Salem,  save  those  which 
have  already  been  considered;  and  in  these  no  trace  is 
found  of  the  sentiments  of  liberty  of  conscience;  of  sepa- 
ration of  Church  and  State;  and  of  a  lodgment  in  the 
people  of  true  sources  of  human  government — sentiments 
which  are  found  in  profusion  in  his  writings,  and  which 
have  served  to  place  him  upon  the  highest  plane  in  states- 
manship. It  was  after  his  removal  to  wider  fields,  and  y£ 
among  people  who  recognized  his  unquestioned  leadership, 
that  his  mind  expanded,  and,  building  upon  the  foundation 
which  he  had  already  laid,  clearing  away  the  mists  and 
vagaries  which  had  obscured  his  vision,  he  erected  a 
political  edifice  of  beauty  and  grandeur  which  has  now 
the  admiration  of  all  posterity. 

The  form  of  government  adopted  by  the  Bay  colonists 
was  unquestionably  a  pure  theocracy.  On  the  eighteenth 
of  May,  1(531,  the  General  Court  "ordered  and  agreed 
that  for  the  time  to  come,  no  man  shall  be  admitted  to 
the  freedom  of  the  body  politic,  but  such  as  are  members 
of  some  of  the  churches  within  the  limits  of  the  same." 
This  system  was  quite  at  variance  with  that  established 
by  Williams,  in  the  colony  of  which  he  was  afterward 
the  founder,  as  we  shall  soon  see.  It  was  widely  at  vari- 
ance with  the  system  of  government  adopted  by  the 
United  States  of  America,  a  century  and  a  half  later. 
But  if  we  except  his  contention  that  no  power  dwells  in 
the  magistrate  to  punish  breaches  of  the  first  table  of 
the  decalogue,  we  nowhere  find  any  trace  prior  to  his  ban- 
ishment, of  his  opposition  to  a  theocratic  form  of  govern- 
ment, which  in  after  time,  was  so  fully  developed.  The 
first  table  of  the  decalogue  comprises  five  commands  re- 
garding duties  of  man  towards  his  Maker;  the  second  in- 
cludes five  regarding  his  duties  toward  his  fellow  man. 


122  Roger  Williams 

Included  among  the  first  of  these  groups  are  the  com- 
mands against  profanity  and  Sabbath  breaking,  infraction 
of  which  are,  even  to  the  present  day,  by  the  Statutes 
of  Massachusetts,  regarded  as  misdemeanors.  Mr.  Will- 
iams, years  after  his  banishment  from  the  Bay,  in  dis- 
cussing the  subject  of  government,  wrote: 

By  these  New  England  ministers'  principles,  not  only  is  the 
doore  of  calling  to  magistracy  shut  against  naturall  and  unre- 
generate  men,  (though  excellently  fitted  for  civill  offices)  but 
also  against  the  best  and  ablest  servants  of  God,  except  they  be 
entered  into  church  estate,  so  that  thousands  of  God's  owne 
people  (excellently  qualified)  not  knowing,  or  not  entring  into 
such  a  church  estate,  shall  not  be  accounted  fit  for  civill  services. 

The  implied  dissent  to  the  principles  of  theocracy,  con- 
tained in  this  passage,  when  compared  with  the  crude  and 
unconsidered  contention  against  the  true  power  of  the  mag- 
istrates, in  the  matter  of  the  first  table,  displays  an  in- 
crease in  breadth  of  thought,  as  remarkable  as  it  is  notable. 
In  the  latter  we  behold  him,  as  it  were,  groping  after  a 
principle,  as  yet  not  fully  developed  in  his  mind.  In  the 
first  we  see  a  thoroughly  considered  political  sentiment, 
which,  more  fully  expanded,  formed  the  groundwork  of 
the  political  edifice  of  our  great  republic. 

The  record  of  Cotton  Mather,  of  the  closing  scene  in 
the  career  of  Williams  in  the  Bay  Colony — although  the 
testimony  of  a  bitter  theological  opponent — is  useful  as 
showing  the  popular  understanding  at  the  time,  of  the 
chief  causes  of  his  banishment.  After  a  somewhat  ram- 
bling and  throughly  partisan  discussion  of  the  religious 
opinions  of  Williams,  which  served  to  bring  him  into  antag- 
onism   with  the  ministers  of  the  Bay,  Mather  continues : 

These  things  were  indeed  very  disturbant  and  offensive;  but 

irThe  Bloudy   Tenenl  of  Persecution— Publications  of  the   Narra- 
gansett  Club,  Hi,  333. 


A  Political  Pioneer  123 

there  were  two  things  in  his  quixotism  that  made  it  no  longer 
convenient  for  the  civil  authority  to  remain  unconcerned  about 
him.  For  first,  whereas  the  King  of  England  had  granted  a 
royal  charter  unto  the  "governour  and  company"  of  this  colony, 
this  hot  headed  man  publickly  and  furiously  preached  against 
the  patent,  as  "an  instrument  of  injustice"  and  pressed  both 
rulers  and  people  to  be  humbled  for  their  sin  in  taking  such  a 
patent,  and  utterly  throw  it  up,  on  an  insignificant  pretence  of 
wrong  thereby  done  unto  the  Indians,  which  were  the  natives 
of  the  country,  therein  given  to  the  subject  of  the  English  crown. 
Secondly  an  order  of  the  court,  upon  some  first  occasion  had 
been  made,  that  an  "oath  of  fidelity"  should  be,  though  not 
imposed  upon,  yet  offered  unto  the  freemen,  the  better  to  dis- 
tinguish those  whose  fidelity  might  render  them  capable  of  im- 
ployment  in  the  government;  which  order  this  man  vehemently 
withstood,  on  a  pernicious  pretence  that  it  was  the  prerogative 
of  our  Lord  Christ  alone  to  have  his  office  established  with  an 
oath;  and  that  an  oath  being  the  worship  of  God,  carnal  per- 
sons, whereof  he  supposed  there  were  many  in  the  land,  might 
not  be  put  upon  it.  These  crimes  at  last  procured  a  sentence  of 
banishment  upon  him.1 

If  we  are  forced  to  doubt,  on  account  of  his  partisan- 
ship, the  thorough  sincerity  of  Cotton  Mather  in  this 
record,  we  cannot,  in  like  manner  reject  the  testimony 
of  Roger  Williams'  friend  and  well  wisher,  Governor 
Edward  Winslow  of  Plymouth.  He  it  was  who,  troubled 
in  mind  and  anxious  for  the  welfare  of  his  friend,  made 
a  journey  from  Plymouth  to  Providence,  through  the 
unbroken  wilderness,  for  the  purpose  of  paying  him  a 
visit.  "It  pleased  the  Father  of  Spirits,"  wrote  Williams 
to  Major  Mason,  "  to  touch  many  hearts  dear  to  him, 
with  some  relentings;  amongst  which,  that  great  and 
pious  soul,  Mr.  Winslow,  melted  and  kindly  visited  me 
q 

father's  Magnolia  Christi  Americana,  ii,  601. 


124  Roger  Williams 

at  Providence  and  put  a  piece  of  gold  into  the  hands  of 
my  wife  for  our  supply."1 

This  man,  in  the  year  1646,  published  a  treatise  under 
the  title  Hypocrisie  Unmasked,  a  discussion  of  the  Samuel 
Gorton  episode  in  Massachusetts  history.  In  this  work, 
a  brief  allusion  is  made  to  Roger  Williams,  and  to  the 
causes  which  led  to  his  banishment. 

"I  know  that  Mr.  Williams,"  says  his  dear  friend  Winslow, 
("  though  a  man  lovely  in  his  carriage  and  whom  I  trust  the 
Lord  will  yet  recall,")  held  forth  in  those  times  the  unlawfulness 
of  our  Letters  Patents  from  the  King,  &c,  would  not  allow  the 
Colours  of  our  Nation,  denyed  the  lawfulnesse  of  a  publique 
oath  as  being  needlesse  to  the  Saints  and  a  prophanation  of 
God's  name  to  tender  it  to  the  wicked,  &c,  and  truly  I  never 
heard  but  he  was  dealt  with  for  these  and  such  like  points;  how- 
ever I  am  sorry  for  the  love  I  beare  to  him  and  his,  I  am  forced 
to  mention  it,  but  God  cals  mee  at  this  time  to  take  off  these 
aspersions."2 

Sir  William  Martin,  one  of  the  staunch  friends  of  the 
Bay  Colony  in  England,  in  some  manner  learning  of  the 
attitude  assumed  by  Williams,  as  touching  separation, 
was  much  concerned,  both  for  him  and  them.  Writing 
to  Winthrop  concerning  some  matter  in  connection  with 
the  welfare  of  the  colony,  Sir  William,  evidently  unaware 
that  Williams  had  already  gone  from  among  them,  wrote 
thus: 

Sib  William  Martin  to  Governor  Winthrop. 

I  am  glad  to  heare  of  Mr.  Norton's  safe  arrivall  and  should  have 
been  more  glad  if  it  had  beene  at  the  baye.  I  hope  he  will  settle 
with  you;  his  ability es  are  more  than  ordinary  and  will  be  accep- 
table and  profitable  to  the  churches.  I  have  received  Prats 
exposition  from  Mr.  Downing;  and  in  the  mayne  I  finde  little 


Tubs.  Nar.  Club,  vi,  337. 
2Hypocrisie  Unmasked,  p.  65  et  seq. 


A  Political  Pioneer  125 

difference  therein  from  his  letters.  I  should  be  glad  to  be  truly 
informed  by  you,  what  you  conceive  of  the  soyle  and  meanes  of 
subsistances,  and  whether  that  exposition  agrees  with  the  truth 
of  things.  I  am  sorry  to  heare  of  Mr.  Williams's  separation 
from  you.  His  former  good  affections  to  you  and  the  planta- 
tions were  well  known  unto  me  and  make  me  wonder  now  at 
his  proceedinges.  I  have  wrote  to  him  effectually  to  submit  to 
better  judgments,  especially  to  those  whom  formerly  he  rever- 
enced and  admired;  at  least  to  keep  the  bond  of  peace  inviolable. 
This  hath  been  always  my  advice;  and  nothing  conduceth  more 
to  the  good  of  plantations.  I  praye  shew  him  what  lawfull 
favour  you  can,  which  may  stand  with  the  common  good.  He 
is  passionate  and  precipitate,  which  may  transport  him  into 
error,  but  I  hope  his  integrity  and  good  intentions  will  bring 
him  at  last  into  the  ways  of  truth  and  confirm  him  therein.  In 
the  meane  time,  I  pray  God  to  give  him  a  right  use  of  this  af- 
fliction. Thus  leavinge  him  to  your  favourable  censures,  and 
you  all  to  the  direction  of  God,  with  my  best  respects  to  you  and 
yours,  I  sign  me, 

Your  affectionate, 

W.M. 
[London]  March  29,  1636.1 


lPubs.  Prince  Soc. — Hutchinson  Papers,  i,  100. 


CHAPTER  IX 

There  are  no  records  extant,  save  those  which  Mr. 
Williams  himself  has  left  us,  which  tell  of  his  wanderings 
and  of  his  destination,  after  his  abrupt  departure  from 
y  Salem,  warned,  as  he  doubtless  had  been,  of  the  approach 
of  Captain  Oldham.  Thirty-five  years  later,  in  a  long 
letter  written  to  Major  Mason,  to  which  allusion  was 
made  in  the  last  chapter,  he  shows  that  for  fourteen  weeks 
he  wandered  in  the  wilderness,  harbored  and  sheltered, 
we  must  believe,  by  friendly  Indians.  At  length,  by  hand 
of  a  messenger,  who  sought  him  out  in  his  place  of  refuge, 
he  was  given  a  letter  from  Governor  Winthrop,  who  in 
it  gave  him  friendly  counsel.  Let  Mr.  Williams  himself 
tell  us  the  story,  even  as  he  told  it  to  his  correspondent: 

First,  when  I  was  unkindly  and  unchristianly,  as  I  believe, 
driven  from  my  house  and  land,  and  wife  and  children  (in  the 
midst  of  a  New  England  winter,  now  about  thirty-five  years 
past)  at  Salem,  that  ever  honored  Governor,  Mr.Winthrop, 
J  privately  wrote  to  me  to  steer  my  course  to  Narraganset  Bay 
and  Indians,  for  many  high  and  heavenly  and  public  ends, 
encouraging  me,  from  the  freeness  of  the  place  from  any  English 
claims  or  patents.  I  took  his  prudent  notion  as  a  hint  and 
voice  from  God  and  waving  all  other  thoughts  and  motions,  I 
steered  my  course  from  Salem,  (though  in  winter  snow,  which 
I  feel  yet)  unto  these  parts,  wherein  I  may  say  Peniel,  that  is, 
I  have  seen  the  face  of  God. 

Second,  I  first  pitched  and  began  to  build  and  plant  at  Seekouk, 
now  Rehoboth,  but  I  received  a  letter  from  my  ancient  friend, 
Mr.  Winslow,  then  governor  of  Plymouth,  professing  his  own 
and  others'  love  and  respect  to  me,  yet  lovingly  advising  me, 


p* 


A  Political  Pioneer  127 

since  I  was  fallen  into  the  edge  of  their  bounds,  and  they  were 
loath  to  displease  the  Bay,  to  remove  but  to  the  other  side  of  the 
water  and  there,  he  said,  I  had  the  country  free  before  me  and 
might  be  as  free  as  themselves.  These  were  the  joint  under- 
standings of  those  two  eminently  wise  and  Christian  governors 
and  others,  in  their  day,  together  with  their  counsel  and  advice 
as  to  the  freedom  and  vacancy  of  this  place  which  in  this  respect, 
and  many  other  Providences  of  the  Most  Holy  and  Only  Wise,  I 
called  PROVIDENCE.1 

Mr.  Williams  was  accompanied  in  his  brief  journey 
to  his  new  place  of  settlement  by  five  men,  his  friends 
and  admirers.  These  were  William  Harris,  John  Smith, 
a  miller,  Joshua  Verin,  Thomas  Angell  and  Francis 
Wickes.  The  second  of  these,  it  will  be  remembered, 
received  a  sentence  of  banishment  from  the  Bay  Colony, 
at  the  same  session  of  the  General  Court  as  that  at  which 
the  order  of  banishment  against  Williams  was  adopted. 
Of  the  five,  little  or  nothing  is  known  save  that  they  joined 
their  fortunes  to  those  of  their  leader,  and  aided  him  in 
the  establishment  of  the  new  plantations.  **. 

Some  years  after  the  Providence  Plantations  had  been 
placed  upon  a  firm  basis,  Mr.  Williams  wrote  a  letter 
addressed  to  John  Cotton,  in  which  he  reviewed  his  ban- 
ishment and  its  causes,  attacking  especially  Mr.  Cotton, 
as  the  chief  cause  of  the  Colony's  action.  In  his  Reply 
to  Mr.  Williams ■,  his  Examination,  Mr.  Cotton  says: — 

Before  my  coming  into  New  England,  the  godly-wise  and 
vigilant  Ruling  Elder  of  Plymouth,  (aged  Mr.  Bruister)  had 
warned  the  whole  church  of  the  danger  of  his  spirit,  which 
moved  the  better  part  of  the  church  to  be  glad  of  his  removall 
from  there  into  the  Bay.  And  in  the  Bay,  not  long  before  my 
coming  he  began  to  oppose  the  King's  patent,  with  much  vehe- 
mency,  (as  he  had  done  at  Plymouth  before)  which  made  the 

'Publications  of  Narragansett  Club,  vi.  335. 


128  Roger  Williams 

magistrates  to  feare  they  should  have  more  to  doe  with  him  then 
with  a  man  publickly  acknowledged  to  be  godly  and  dearely 
beloved 

But  whereas  he  saith  He  was  exposed  to  the  mercie  of  an 
howling  wilderness,  in  frost,  snow,  etc.,  the  truth  is,  the  sentence 
of  his  banishment  out  of  the  patent  was  pronounced  against 
him  in  the  court  before  winter  and  respite  was  given  him  to 
tarry  certain  weeks  (six  or  more)  to  prepare  for  his  journey. 
In  the  meantime  some  of  his  friends  went  to  the  place  appointed 
by  himself  before  hand  to  make  provision  of  housing  and  other 
necessaries  for  him  against  his  coming;  otherwise  he  might  have 
chosen  to  have  gone  either  Southward  to  his  acquaintance  at 
Plymouth,  or  Eastward  to  Pascatogne  or  Aganimiticus.  And 
then  the  wilderness  had  been  as  no  wilderness,  (at  least  no 
howling  wilderness)  where  men  sit  downe  under  warme  and 
dry  roofes,  sheltered  from  the  annoyance  of  frost  and  snow  and 
other  winter  hardships.1 

From  this  passage  it  would  appear,  although  there 
is  no  other  evidence,  that  the  five  friends  of  Williams, 
aware  of  his  contemplated  flight  from  Salem,  preceded 
him  into  the  wilderness  and  made  ready  for  his  coming 
the  first  camp  on  the  banks  of  that  river  which  bears  the 
triple  name  of  the  Blackstone,  the  Seekonk  and  the  Paw- 
tucket.2  The  company  remained  here  during  the  re- 
mainder of  the  winter  and  in  the  spring  planted  their 
crops.  But  they  were  destined  again  to  be  disturbed 
for,  as  Mr.  Williams  himself  has  already  told  us,  he  re- 
ceived a  letter  from  Governor  Winslow,  at  Plymouth, 
in  which  he  was  informed  that  the  new  plantation  was 
within  the  limits  covered  by  the  Plymouth  patent;  that 


Publications  of  the  Narragansett  Club,  ii,  12  et  seq. 

2This  river,  from  its  source  to  Pawtucket  falls  is  called  the  Blackstone 
for  William  Blackstone,  the  first  settler  of  Boston,  who  afterward  settled 
on  its  banks.  Below  the  falls,  on  its  east  bank  it  is  known  as  the  Seekonk, 
on  the  west  bank  as  the  Pawtucket. 


A  Political  Pioneer  129 

the  Plymouth  brethren  were  loath  to  displease  them  of 
the  Bay,  by  allowing  a  settlement  within  their  limits,  of 
men  who  were  at  variance  with  the  magistracy  of  that 
colony;  and  suggesting,  in  a  friendly  way  that  all  possible 
occasion  of  friction  would  be  removed  if  Mr.  Williams 
and  his  friends  would  but  make  their  plantation  on  the 
farther  bank  of  the  river. 

Mr.  Williams,  unwilling  to  precipitate,  by  his  action, 
a  possible  quarrel  between  the  authorities  of  the  Bay  and 
of  Plymouth, — although,  by  so  doing  he  endangered  the 
year's  harvest — abandoned  his  plantation,  and  with  his 
followers,  embarked  in  a  canoe  and  pushed  down  the 
river  in  search  of  a  new  situation.  And  now  comes  into 
the  narrative  the  first  occurrence,  in  the  relation  of  which 
tradition  must  succeed  to  literal  record.  It  is  the  full 
belief  of  the  good  people  of  Providence,  even  unto  this 
day,  that,  as  Roger  Williams  and  his  party  paddled  down 
the  stream  a  group  of  Indians,  who  recognized  them, 
espied  them  from  the  summit  of  a  great  rock  upon  the 
river's  bank.  In  recognition  of  the  kindness  which  they 
had  received  from  the  hands  and  lips  of  Williams,  they 
sent  forth  a  salutation  to  the  voyagers,  with  the  cry, 
"What  cheer,  Netop,"  or,  in  more  intelligible  language, 
"What  good  news,  friend ?" 

The  story  goes  that  the  travellers,  pausing  in  their 
journey,  stepped  upon  the  rock — which  was,  for  two 
centuries  and  a  half  after,  known  as  "Slate  Rock" — and 
returned  the  greetings  of  their  Indian  friends.  Then, 
re-embarking,  they  continued  down  the  river  to  its  mouth, 
rounded  the  promontory,  including  India  point  and  Fox 
point,  and  entered  an  estuary  of  Narragansett  Bay. 
Proceeding  northward  a  short  distance,  until  they  reached 
the    confluence     of    the    rivers    Woonasquatucket  and 


-7 


130  Roger  Williams 

Moshassuck,  they  there  disembarked,  near  a  great  spring 
of  sweet  water.  Here  they  made  their  home;  and  here,  in 
the  process  of  time,  was  builded  a  great  city,  which  has 
taken  for  the  motto  upon  its  corporate  seal,  the  legend 
What  Cheer. 

To  this  little  company  of  six  men  others  soon  joined 
themselves  and,  the  community  beginning  to  assume  re- 
spectable proportions,  it  became  evident  that  some  form 
of  government  must  soon  be  adopted.  It  is  a  remarkable 
circumstance  that  notwithstanding  the  prominent  part 
which  John  Winthrop  assumed  in  the  banishment  of 
Roger  Williams,  the  personal  friendship  and  mutual 
esteem  of  the  two  men  were  never  shaken.  Each  recog- 
nized the  thorough  sincerity  of  the  other,  and  the  letters 
which  passed  between  the  two,  many  of  which  are  still 
extant,  betray  the  warm  regard  which  they  maintained 
each  for  the  other.  Naturally,  then,  and  inasmuch  as 
Mr.  Williams  had,  as  yet,  no  experience  in  statecraft,  he 
desired  to  consult  with  his  friend  Winthrop, — then  the 
deputy  governor  of  the  Bay — concerning  a  suitable  form 
of  government  for  the  new  colony.  The  letter  which  he 
wrote  to  Winthrop  upon  this  subject,  and  which  here 
follows,  was  written,  evidently  not  long  after  the  company 
had  set  down  on  the  Woonasquatucket,  and  probably  in 
the  summer  of  1636.  This  letter  bears  evidence  that 
Williams  was  not  relying  wholly  upon  the  advice  which 
he  hoped  to  obtain  from  Winthrop,  but  that  he  had  tenta- 
tively determined  upon  forming  a  democracy,  compacted 
by  mutual  agreement  of  its  members,  after  the  model  of 
the  organization  formed  by  the  Mayflower  compact. 
That  he  had  not,  when  this  letter  was  written,  determined 
upon  a  political  organization,  from  which  ecclesiastical 
power  should  be  wholly  excluded,  is  evident  from  the 


A  Political  Pioneer  131 

omission  of  a  most  significant  clause,  from  the  two  models 
of  a  compact  which  he  submitted  to  Winthrop,  as  will 
hereafter  appear.     The  letter  follows: — 

Roger  Williams  to  John  Winthrop. 

For  his  much  honored,  Mr.  John  Winthrop,  Deputy  Governor 

these. 

Much  honored  Sir — The  frequent  experience  of  your 
loving  ear,  ready  and  open  toward  me  (in  what  your  confcience 
that  permitted)  as  alfo  of  that  excellent  fpirit  of  wifdom  and 
prudence  wherewith  the  Father  of  Lights  hath  endued  you, 
emolden  me  to  requeft  a  word  of  private  advife  with  the  foon- 
efth  convenience,  if  it  maybe,  by  this  meffenger. 

The  condition  of  myfelf  and  thofe  few  families  here  planting 
with  me,  you  know  full  well:  we  have  no  Patent:  nor  doth  the 
face  of  Magiftracy  fuit  with  our  prefent  condition.  Hitherto, 
the  mafters  of  families  have  ordinarily  met  once  a  fortnight  and 
confulted  about  our  common  peace,  watch,  and  planting;  and 
mutual  confent  have  finifhed  all  matters  with  fpeed  and  peace. 

Now  of  late  fome  young  men,  fingle  perfons  (of  whom  we 
had  much  need)  being  admitted  to  freedom  of  inhabitation,  and 
promifing  to  be  fubject  to  the  orders  made  by  the  confent  of 
the  householders,  are  difcontented  with  their  eftate,  and  feek 
the  freedom  of  vote  alfo,  and  equality,    &c. 

Befide,  our  dangers  (in  the  midft  of  thefe  dens  of  lions)  now 
efpecially,  call  upon  us  to  be  compact  in  a  civil  way  and  power. 

I  have  therefore  had  thoughts  of  propounding  to  my  neigh- 
bors a  double  fubfcription,  concerning  which  I  fhall  humbly 
crave  your  help. 

The   firft  concerning  ourfelves,  the  mafters  of  families:  thus, 

We  whofe  names  are  hereunder  written,  late  inhabitants  of 
the  Maffachufetts,  (upon  occafion  of  fome  difference  of  con- 
fcience,) being  permitted  to  depart  from  the  limits  of  that  Patent, 
under  the  which  we  came  over  into  thefe  parts,  and  being  caft 
by  the  Providence  of  the  God  of  Heaven,  remote  from  others 
of  our  countrymen  amongft  the  barbarians  in  this  town  of  New 


132  Roger  Williams 

Providence,  do  with  free  and  joint  confent  promife  each  unto 
other,  that,  for  our  common  peace  and  welfare  (until  we  heare 
further  of  the  King's  royal  pleafure  concerning  ourfelves)  we 
will  from  time  to  time  fubject  ourfelves  in  active  or  paffive 
obedience  to  fuch  orders  and  agreements,  as  fhall  be  made  by 
the  greater  number  of  the  prefent  houfeholders,  and  fuch  as 
fhall  be  hereafter  admitted  by  their  confent  into  the  fame  privi- 
lege and  covenant  in  our  ordinary  meeting.  In  witnefs  whereof 
we  hereunto  fubfcribe,  &c. 

Concerning  thofe  few  young  men,  and  any  who  fhall  here- 
after (by  your  favorable  connivance)  defire  to  plant  with  us 
this,— 

We  whofe  names  are  hereunder  written,  being  defirous  to  in- 
habit in  this  Town  of  New  Providence,  do  promife  to  fubject 
ourfelves  in  active  or  paffive  obedience  to  fuch  orders  and  agree- 
ments as  fhall  be  made  from  time  to  time,  b  the  greater  number 
of  the  prefent  houfeholders  of  this  Town,  and  fuch  whom  they 
fhall  admit  into  the  fame  fellowfhip  and  privilege.  In  witness 
whereof,    &c. 

Hitherto  we  choofe  one,  (named  the  officer,)  to  call  the  meet 
ing  at  the  appointed  time:  now  it  is  defired  by  fome  of  us  that 
the  houfeholders  by  courfe  perform  that  work,  as  alfo  gather 
votes  and  fee  the  watch  go  on,  &c. 

I  have  not  yet  mentioned  thefe  things  to  my  neighbors,  but 
fhall  as  I  fee  caufe  upon  your  loving  counfel. 

As  also  fince  the  place  I  have  purchafed,  fecondly,  at  mine 
owne  charge  and  engagements,  the  inhabitants  paying  (by  con- 
fent thirty  fhillings  a  piece  as  they  come,  until  my  charge  be 
out  for  their  particular  lots:  and  thirdly,  that  I  never  made  any 
other  covenant  with  any  perfon,  but  that  if  I  got  a  place  he 
fhould  plant  there  with  me:  my  query  is  this, — 

Whither  I  may  not  lawfully  defire  this  of  my  neighbors,  that 
as  I  freely  fubject  myfelf  to  common  confent,  and  fhall  not 
bring  in  any  perfon  into  the  town  without  their  confent;  fo  alfo 
that  againft  my  confent  no  perfon  be  violently  brought  in  and 
received. 

I  defire  not  to  fleep  in  fecurity  and  dream  of  a  neft  which  no 


A  Political  Pioneer  133 

hand  can  reach.  I  cannot  but  expect  changes,  and  the  change 
of  the  laft  enemy  death,  yet  dare  I  not  defpife  a  liberty,  which 
the  Lord  feemeth  to  offer  me,  if  for  mine  own  or  others  peace: 
and  therefore  have  I  been  thus  bold  to  prefent  my  thoughts 
unto  you. 

The  Pequots  hear  of  your  preparations,  &c,  and  comfort 
themfelves  in  this,  that  a  witch  amongft  them  will  fink  the  pin- 
naces, by  diving  under  water  and  making  holes,  &c,  as  alfo 
that  they  fhall  now  enrich  themfelves  with  ftore  of  guns,  but  I 
hope  their  dreams  (through  the  mercy  of  the  Lord)  fhall  vanifh, 
and  the  devil  and  his  lying  forcerers  fhall  be  confounded. 

You  may  pleafe,  Sir,  to  take  notice  that  it  is  of  main  confe- 
quence  to  take  some  courfe  with  the  Wunnafhowatuckoogs  and 
Wufquowhananawkits,  who  are  the  furthermoft  Neepnet  men, 
for  the  Pequots  driven  from  the  fea  coaft  with  eafe,  yet  there 
fecure  and  ftrengthen  themfelves,  and  are  then  brought  down  fo 
much  the  nearer  to  you.  Thus  with  the  beft  refpects  to  your 
loving  felf  and  Mrs.  Winthrop,  I  reft, 

Your  Worfhips  unfeigned,  praying  to  meet  you  in  this  vale  of 
tears  or  hills  of  mercy  above. 

R.  Williams. 

The  result  of  the  deliberations  of  Williams,  aided,  it 
is  not  improbable,  by  the  advice  of  his  friend  Winthrop, 
was  the  adoption  and  subscription  of  a  compact  of  gov- 
ernment which,  in  its  terms,  must  be  regarded  as  the 
most  remarkable  political  document  theretofore  executed, 
not  even  excepting  the  Magna  Charta.  It  was  a  docu- 
ment which  placed  a  government,  formed  by  the  people 
and  for  the  people,  solely  in  the  control  of  the  civil  arm. 
It  gave  the  first  example  of  a  pure  democracy,  from 
which  all  ecclesiastical  power  was  eliminated.  It  was  the 
first  enunciation  of  a  great  principle,  which  years  later, 
formed  the  corner  stone  of  the  Great  Republic.  It  was 
the  act  of  a  statesman  fully  a  century  in  advance  of  his 
time. 


134  Roger  Williams 

The  earliest  records  of  the  Providence  Plantations  are 
exceedingly  meagre.  It  is  a  matter  of  history  that  the 
/H  town  of  Providence  was  attacked  by  Indians  and  a  con- 
siderable portion  destroyed  by  fire,  in  the  year  1676.  If 
records  then  existed  more  voluminous  than  those  now 
extant,  it  is  probable  that  they  were  consumed  in  the 
conflagration  which  destroyed  the  town.  Some  of  the 
early  records  are  said  to  have  been  thrown  into  a  pond  as 
a  place  of  safety  (  ?)  at  this  time,  whence  they  were  after- 
ward rescued  in  a  somewhat  damaged  condition.  Upon 
the  first  page  of  the  oldest  book  of  records  of  Providence 
now  in  existence  is  found  this  compact — a  book  as  sacredly 
cherished  as  is  the  History  of  New  England,  written  in 
the  quaint,  crabbed  handwriting  of  John  Winthrop,  or 
the  carefully  guarded  chronicle  of  Plymouth  Plantation, 
traced  by  the  hand  of  William  Bradford. 

COMPACT. 

We  whose  names  are  hereunder,  desirous  to  inhabitt  in  ye 
towne  of  Providence  do  promise  to  subiect  ourselves  in  actiue  or 
passiue  obedience  to  all  such  orders  or  agreements  as  shall  be 
made  for  publick  good  of  or  body  in  an  orderly  way,  by  the 
maior  consent  of  the  present  Inhabitants,  maisters  of  families 
Incorporated  together  into  a  towne  fellowship  and  others  whome 
they  shall  admitt  unto  them 

only  in  civill  things 

Richard  Scott  Edward  E.  Cope 

William  Renolds.      Thomas  Angell. 

John  ffeild.  Thomas  Harris. 

Chad  Browne.  ffrancis  Weekes. 

John  Warner.  Benedict  Arnold. 

George  Rickard.        William  Wickenden. 


lEarly  Records  of  the  Town  of  Providence,  i,  1 ;  et  vide,  Records  of  the 
Colony  of  Rhode  Island  and  Providence  Plantations  in  New  England  i,  14. 


A  Political  Pioneer  135 

It  will  at  once  occur  to  the  reader  as  noticeable,  that 
this  compact  does  not  bear  the  name  of  Roger  Williams, 
as  one  of  its  signers.  The  names  of  three  of  his  five 
companions  also  are  missing,  two  only  appearing — those 
of  Thomas  Angell  and  Francis  Wickes.  A  possible 
explanation  of  this  circumstance  is  supplied  by  the  editor 
of  the  Records  of  the  Colony,  in  the  supposition  that 
these  names  thus  signed,  with  the  exception  of  the  names 
o!  Angell  and  Wickes,  are  those  of  a  second  party  of 
comers,  and  that  the  original  compact  signed  by  Williams 
and  his  immediate  followers  has  been  lost.  That  the 
names  of  Angell  and  Wickes  here  appear  is  explained  by 
the  editor  by  the  supposition  that  they  were  minors  at 
the  time  of  signing  the  first  compact,  a  supposition  to 
which  a  record  made  by  Williams  lends  a  color  of  prob- 
ability. 

The  second  entry  in  this  ancient  book  of  records,  bear- 
ing the  date  of  June  16,  [1636]  is  the  record  of  a  vote  of 
the  town  determining  a  fine  for  such  as  should  be  more 
than  a  quarter  of  an  hour  late  for  the  time  appointed 
for  a  town  meeting. 

During  his  life  at  Plymouth  and  at  Salem,  as  we  already 
know,  Mr.  Williams  had  passed  much  of  his  time  in  the 
forest,  making  the  acquaintance  of  the  Indians  and 
winning  their  confidence.  In  this  he  would  appear  to 
have  been  highly  successful.  Canon icus  and  his  nephew 
Miantonomoh,  the  very  powerful  joint  chiefs  of  the 
Narragansett  tribe,  held  sway  over  this  entire  region. 
They  had  subdued  the  Wampanoags  and  had  forced 
the  submission  of  that  tribe.  At  the  time  of  the  flight  of 
Williams  from  Salem,  the  Narragansett  chiefs  were  at 
odds  with  Ausamaquin,  a  chief  at  the  eastward,  although 
open  hostilities  had  not,  probably,  begun.  To  reconcile 
these   antagonists   Williams   at  once  bent   his   energies; 


136  Roger  Williams 

and  it  seems  probable  that  this  was  the  mission  with 
which  he  was  occupied  during  the  period  of  fourteen 
weeks,  which  intervened  between  the  time  of  his  flight 
from  Salem  and  his  first  settlement,  on  the  banks  of  the 
Seekonk.  While  acting  thus  as  a  pacificator,  Mr.  Will- 
iams won  the  confidence  and  respect  of  the  Narragansett 
\  chiefs;  and  when  he  made  known  to  them  his  desire  to 
make  a  plantation  within  their  domains,  he  was  made 
heartily  welcome.  A  large  tract  of  country,  stretching 
from  the  Pawtucket  to  the  Pawtuxet  rivers  was  given  to 
him.  It  is  probable  that  the  grant  was  originally  made 
verbally,  for  no  record  of  a  formal  conveyance  appears, 
at  an  earlier  date  than  March,  1637,  nearly  a  year  after 
the  settlement  was  made  near  the  great  spring.  From 
this  conveyance  it  is  seen  that  the  original  verbal  grant 
was  made  two  years  earlier,  or  fully  a  month  before 
Williams  and  his  company  "began  to  build  and  plant 
at  Seekonk." 

The  tract  of  land  thus  granted  to  Roger  Williams  was 
a  year  and  a  half  later,  made  over  by  him  to  the  members 
of  his  company,  in  consideration  of  the  sum  of  thirty 
pounds  by  them  to  him  paid.  This  conveyance  was 
made  by  a  hastily  drawn  memorandum,  in  which  the 
names  of  the  grantees  were  inserted  by  initials  only. 
This  document  is  known  by  the  Rhode  Island  antiqua- 
rians as  the  "Initial  deed."  Twenty-eight  years  after, 
for  the  purpose,  probably,  of  making  this  record  com- 
plete, Mr.  Williams  placed  a  second  conveyance  upon  re- 
cord, identical  with  the  original,  save  that  the  names  of 
the  grantees  were  inserted,  in  place  of  their  initials.  This 
quaint  and  curious  document  is  here  presented: 


A  Political  Pioneer  137 

Deed    from    Cannaunicus    and    Miantonomi    to 
Roger  Williams. 

At  Nanhiggansick  the  24th  of  the  first  month  commonly 
called  March,  in  the  second  year  of  our  plantation  or  planting 
at  Mooshansick  or  Providence, 

Memorandum;  that  we,  Cannaunicus  and  Meautunomi,  the 
two  chief  sachems  of  Nanhiggansick,  having  two  years  since 
sold  unto  Roger  Williams  the  lands  and  meadows  upon  the  two 
fresh  rivers  called  Mooshausick  and  Wanasgnatucket  do  now 
by  these  presents  establish  and  confirm  the  bonds  of  these  lands, 
from  the  river  and  fields  at  Pawtucket,  the  great  hill  of  Neota- 
conkonitt  on  the  northwest  and  the  town  of  Mashapange  on  the 
west.  As  also  in  consederation  of  the  many  kindnesses  and 
services  he  hath  continually  done  for  us,  both  with  our  friends 
Massachusetts,  as  also  at  Quinickicutt,  and  Apaum  or  Plymouth, 
we  do  freely  give  unto  him  all  that  land  from  those  rivers,  reach- 
ing to  Pawtucket  river,  as  also  the  grass  and  meadows  upon  the 
said  Pawtucket  river. 

In  witness  whereof  we  have  hereunto  set  our  hands. 
The  mark  of    X     Caunaunicus. 
The  mark  of    X    Meautunome. 
In  the  presence  of 

The  mark  of  X  Seatash. 

The  mark  of  *    Assotemewit. 

1639,  Memorandum,  3  mo.,  9th  day.— This  was  all  again 
confirmed  by  Miantonomi,  he  acknowledging  this  his  act  and 
hand,  up  the  streams  of  Pawtucket  and  Pawtuxet  without  limits, 
we  might  have  for  our  use  of  cattle. 
Witness  hereof, 

Roger  Williams. 
Benedict  Arnold. 

This  conveyance  to  his  associates  was  further  con- 
firmed, in  the  year  1638,  by  a  more  formal  and  elaborate 
deed,  in  which  the  wife  of  Roger  Williams  joined.     A 


138  Roger  Williams 

mutual  agreement,  in  which  Roger  Williams  and  his 
associates,  now  increased  to  twelve,  joined,  was  at  the 
same  time  entered  into,  for  the  mutual  ownership  and 
disposition  of  the  land  thus  acquired  for  a  plantation. 
Fifty  years  after  these  occurrences,  Mr.  Williams,  then 
being  advanced  in  age,  for  the  information  of  posterity 
prepared  a  written  statement,  in  the  form  of  a  deposition, 
wherein  the  circumstances  attending  the  planting  of  the 
colony  were  detailed. 

The  Enrolement  of  A.  Weighting 
Signed  by  Roger  Williams,  as  Followeth: 

Providence,  8  of  ye  8th  mon:  1638  (so  called). 

Memorandum  yt  I  Roger  Williams  having  formerly  purchassed 
of  Caunounicus  &  Miantenomue  this  our  scituation,  or  planta- 
tion of  New  Providence,  viz  the  Two  ffresh  Rivers  Wanasgna 
tuckett  &  Mooshausick,  and  ye  ground  &  Meadowes  thereupon: 
In  Consideration  of  thirtie  poundes  received  from  the  Inhabe- 
tantes  of  the  saide  place,  doe  freely  &  ffully  passe  grant  &  make 
over  Equall  Right  and  power  of  Enjoyeing  &  dispossing  the 
same  groundes  &  Landes  unto  my  Lo:  ffriends  &  neighbors 
Stukley  Westcoot;  Wm  Arnold;  Thomas  James;  Robert  Cole; 
John  Greene;  John  Throckmorten;  William  Harris;  Wm  Car- 
penter; Tho:  Olney;  ffrancis  Weston,  Rich:  Waterman;  Ezechiell 
Holliman;  and  such  others  as  the  mayor  part  of  us  shall  admitt 
into  the  same  ffellowshipp  of  Voate  with  us.  As  also  I  doe 
ffreely  make  and  passe  over  equall  Right  and  power  of  Enjoyeing 
and  despossing  of  the  Lands  and  grounds  Reaching  from  the 
aforesaid  Rivers  unto  the  great  River  Pautuxett  with  the  grasse 
and  meadowes  there  upon  woe  was  so  lately  given  &  granted  by 
the  aforesaid  Sachims  to  me  witnesse  my  hand: 

Providence  22:  10,  1666  (so  called). 

This  paper  &  writing  is  a  true  coppie  of  a  wrighteing  given  by 
me  about  Twenty  Eight  yeares  since,  &  differs  not  a  tittle  only 


A  Political  Pioneer  139 

so  is  dated  as  neere  as  we  could  guesse  about  the  time  and  the 
names  of  the  men  (writteen  in  a  straight  of  time  &  hast)  are 
here  explained  by  me. 

Roger  Williams. 
in  the  presence  of  us 

John  Browne. 

Jon  Sayles. 

Thomas  Harris,  Assistant.1 

Deposition  of  Roger  Williams. 

Narragansett,  18,  June,  1682  Ut  Vvl. 

I  testify  as  in  the  presence  of  the  allmaking  and  all-seeing 
God  that  about  fifty  years  since  I  coming  into  this  Narragan- 
sett Country  I  found  a  great  contest  between  three  sachems, 
two  (to  wit  Cononicus  and  Miantonomy)  were  against  Ousama- 
quin  or  Plymouth  side.  I  was  forced  to  travel  between  them 
three  to  pacify,  to  satisfy  all  their,  and  their  dependent's  spirits 
of  my  honest  intentions  to  live  peacably  by  them.  I  testify 
that  it  was  the  general  and  constant  declaration  that  Can- 
nonicus  his  father  had  three  sons,  whereof  Cannonicus  was  the 
heire,  and  his  youngest  brother's  son  Miantonomy  (because  of 
his  youth)  was  his  marshal  and  executioner  and  did  nothing 
without  his  unkle  Cannonicus  consent.  And  therefore  I  declare 
to  posterity  that  were  it  not  for  the  favor  that  God  gave  me 
with  Cannonicus,  none  of  these  parts,  no,  not  Rhode 
Island  had  been  purchased  or  obtained,  for  I  never  got  any- 
thing out  of  Cannonicus  but  by  gift.  I  also  profess  that  being 
inquisitive  of  what  root  the  title  or  denomination  Nahiganset 
should  come,  I  heard  that  Nahiganset  was  so  named  from  a  little 
Island  between  Puttisgnomscut  and  Musqnomacuk  on  the  sea 
and  fresh  water  side.  I  went  on  purpose  to  see  it  and  about 
the  place  called  Sugar  Loaf  Hill  I  saw  it  and  was  within  a 
pole  of  it,  but  could  not  learn  why  it  was  called  Nahiganset. 
I  had  learnt  that  the  Massachusetts  was  so  called  from  the  Blue 
Hills,   a  little  Island   thereabout;  and  Cannonicas  father  and 

lEarly  Records  of  the  Town  of  Providence,  iii,  90. 


140  Roger  Williams 

anchestors  living  in  these  southern  parts,  transferred  and 
brought  their  authority  and  name  into  those  northern  parts  all 
along  by  the  seaside;  and  I  desire  posterity  to  see  the  gracious 
hand  of  the  Most  High,  (in  whose  hands  is  all  hearts)  that  when 
the  hearts  of  my  country-men  and  friends  and  bretheren  failed 
me,  his  infinite  wisdom  and  merits  stirred  up  the  barbarous 
heart  of  Canonicus  to  love  me  as  his  own  son  to  his  last  gasp, 
by  which  means  I  had  not  only  Miantonomy  and  all  the  Cow- 
esit  sachems  my  friends,  but  Ousamaquin  also  who,  because  of 
my  great  friendship  with  him  at  Plymouth  and  the  authority  of 
Cannonicus  consented  freely  (being  also  well  gratified  by  me)  to 
the  Governor  Winthrop's  and  my  enjoyment  of  Prudence,  yea  of 
Providence  itself,  and  all  the  other  lands  I  procured  of  Can- 
nonicus, which  were  upon  the  point,  and  in  effect  whatsoever  I 
desired  of  him.  And  I  never  denyed  him  nor  Miantonomy 
whatever  they  desired  of  me  as  to  goods  or  gifts,  or  use  of  my 
boats  or  pinnace  and  the  travels  of  my  own  person  day  and 
night,  which  though  men  knew  not,  nor  care  to  know,  yet  the 
All-seeing  eye  hath  seen  it  and  his  All-powerful  hand  hath  helped 
me.     Blessed  be  his  holy  name  to  eternity. 

Roger  Williams. 


CHAPTER  X 

Auspiciously  as  the  new  life  of  the  infant  colony  had 
begun,  its  sky  was  soon  overclouded.  The  system  of 
entire  freedom  of  conscience,  which  had  been  adopted 
as  the  ground  work  of  their  fabric  political,  was  itself 
the  first  cause  of  dissension;  and  the  first  malcontent  was 
one  of  the  five  friends  who  followed — or,  perhaps,  pre- 
ceded— Williams  into  the  wilderness.  In  the  midst  of 
the  cares  of  his  magistracy,  and  of  the  bodily  toil  which 
necessarily  accompanied  the  establishment  of  a  new 
settlement,  Williams  did  not  forget  the  duty  which  de- 
volved upon  him  also  as  a  religious  teacher.  Not  only 
on  Sundays,  but  on  week  days  also,  it  was  his  wont  to 
gather  together  the  people  for  divine  worship  and  to 
listen  to  his  teachings.  Among  his  most  frequent  auditors 
was  the  wife  of  Joshua  Verin,  one  of  the  devout  women 
of  Salem,  who  had  so  faithfully  clung  to  his  fortunes 
during  the  stormy  days  which  preceded  his  departure 
from  that  place.  So  constant  was  Mistress  Verin  upon 
his  ministrations,  after  the  families  were  reunited  in  their 
new  habitations,  that  her  absence  from  home  and  its 
duties  began  to  be  severely  felt.  Verin,  so  one  account 
goes,  at  last  remonstrated  and  requested  his  wife  to  devote 
less  time  to  her  religious,  and  more  to  her  house-wifely, 
duties.  The  attitude  of  the  husband  came  to  the  ears 
of  Mr.  Williams  and  the  leading  men  of  the  town,  and  a 
town  meeting  was  called  to  consider  the  matter;  for  it 
was  charged  that  Verin,  in  his  interference  with  his  wife's 
religious  privileges,  had  broken  the  covenant  of  religious  V 
freedom,  upon  which  their  colony  had  been  founded. 


142  Roger  Williams 

A  warm  discussion  ensued  and  William  Arnold  ardent- 
ly espoused  the  cause  of  Verin.  Governor  Winthrop, — 
who  doubtless  received  his  information  from  Verin  him- 
self,— thus  records  the  episode: 

But  there  stood  up  one  Arnold,  a  witty  man  of  their  own 
company  and  withstood  it,  telling  them  that,  when  he  consented 
to  that  order  he  never  intended  it  should  extend  to  the  breach 
of  any  ordinance  of  God,  such  as  the  subjection  of  wives  to  their 
husbands,  &c.,  and  gave  divers  solid  reasons  against  it.  Then 
one  Greene  (who  hath  married  the  wife  of  one  Beggerly,  whose 
husband  is  living  and  no  divorce,  &c,  but  only  it  was  said  that 
he  had  lived  in  adultery  and  had  confessed  it)  he  replied  that,  if 
they  should  restrain  their  wives  all  the  women  in  the  country 
would  cry  out  of  them.  Arnold  answered  him  thus:  "Did  you 
pretend  to  leave  the  Massachusetts  because  you  would  not 
offend  God  to  please  men,  and  would  you  now  break  one  ordi- 
nance and  commandment  of  God  to  please  women?"  Some 
were  of  opinion  that  if  Verin  would  not  suffer  his  wife  to  have 
her  liberty,  the  church  should  dispose  of  her  to  some  other  man, 
who  would  use  her  better.  Arnold  told  them  that  it  was  not 
the  woman's  desire  to  go  so  oft  from  home,  but  only  Mr.  Williams 
and  others.  In  conclusion,  when  they  would  have  censured 
Verin,  Arnold  told  them  that  it  was  against  their  own  order; 
and  their  order  was  that  no  man  should  be  censured  for  his  con- 


The  story  of  this  affair,  as  told  by  Mr.  Williams,  differs 
widely,  in  its  details,  from  its  narration  as  recorded  by 
Winthrop.  In  a  letter  to  the  governor,  under  date  of 
May  22, 1638,  Williams  relates  his  version  of  the  occurrence. 
Although  the  latter  portion  of  the  epistle  alone  is  concerned 
with  the  Verin  matter,  the  entire  letter  is  here  given,  as 
illustrating    admirably    Mr.    Williams'    epistolary    style: 


lWinthrop,  i,  282,  el  seq. 


A  Political  Pioneer  143 

Roger  Williams  "to  John  Winthrop. 
To  hi*  much  honoured  Governer  John  Winthrop 

Providence,  the  22  of  3d  mon  [May  22,  1638] 

Sir: — Blessed  be  the  Father  of  Spirits,  in  whose  hand  our 
breath  and  ways  are,  that  once  more  I  may  be  bold  to  salute 
you  and  congratulate  your  return  from  the  brink  of  the  pit  of 
rottonness. 

What  is  man  that  thou  shouldest  visit  him  and  try  him  ?  &., 
Job  7th.  You  are  put  off  to  this  tempestuous  sea  again,  more 
storms  await  you,  the  good  Lord  repair  our  leaks,  freshen  up  the 
gales  of  his  blessed  Spirit,  steady  our  course  by  the  compass  of 
his  own  truth,  rescue  us  from  all  our  spiritual  adversaries,  not 
only  men,  but  fiends  of  war,  and  assure  us  of  an  harbor  at  last 
even  the  bosom  of  the  Lord  Jesus. 

Sir,  you  have  many  an  eye  (I  presume)  lifted  up  to  the  hills 
of  mercy  for  you;  mine  might  seem  superfluous;  yet  privately  and 
publicly  you  have  not  been  forgotten,  and  I  hope  shall  not  while 
these  eyes  have  sight. 

Sir,  this  last  night  Mr.  Allen  of  Hartford,  and  Lieutenant 
Holmes  lodged  with  me,  and  relate  that  Mr.  Haynes  or  some 
chief  resolved  to  be  with  you  this  week,  so  that  you  may  please 
a  little  stop  till  their  coming.  Lieutenant  Holmes  relates  that 
William  Baker,  who  lay  hid  so  long  among  the  Mohegans  and 
Pequots,  for  whom  he  gave  bail,  &c,  was  hid  again  the  second 
time  among  the  same  by  Uncas,  but  the  Lieutenant,  by  a  Prov- 
idence, heard  of  him  and  returned  him  to  Hartford,  where  he 
hath  suffered  for  his  much  uncleanness  by  two  several  whippings. 
This  fellow,  notorious  in  villainy  and  strongly  affected  by  those 
wretches,  both  studying  revenge,  is  worthy  to  be  watched  even 
by  the  whole  country  and  to  be  dispersed  from  the  Pequots  and 
they  each  from  other,  according  as  I  have  been  bold  to  motion 
formerly. 

Sir,  we  have  been  long  afflicted  by  a  young  man  boistrous  and 
desperate,  Philip  Verins,  son  of  Salem,  who  as  he  hath  refused 
to  hear  the  word  with  us  (which  we  molested  him  not  for)  this 


144  Roger  Williams 

twelve  month,  so  because  he  could  not  draw  his  wife,  a  gracious 
and  modest  woman,  to  the  same  ungodliness  with  him,  he  hath 
trodden  her  under  foot  tyranically  and  bruitishly;  which  she  and 
we  long  bearing,  though  with  his  furious  blows  she  went  in 
danger  of  life,  at  the  last  the  major  vote  of  us  discarded  him 
from  our  civil  freedom,  or  disfranchise,  &c,  he  will  have  justice 
(as  he  clamors)  at  other  courts:  I  wish  he  might,  for  a  foul  and 
slanderous  and  bruitish  carriage,  which  God  hath  delivered 
him  up  unto;  he  will  [haul]  his  wife  with  ropes  to  Salem,  where 
she  must  needs  be  troubled  and  troublesome,  as  differences  yet 
stand.  She  is  willing  to  stay  and  live  with  him  or  elsewhere, 
where  she  may  not  offend,  &c.  I  shall  humbly  request  that 
this  item  be  accepted,  and  he  no  way  countenanced,  until  (if 
need  be)  I  further  trouble  you:  So  with  due  respects  to  Mrs. 
Winthrop,  Mr.  Deputy,  Mr.  Bellingham,   &c,  I  rest, 

Your  Worship's  unfeigned, 
Roger  Williams.1 

The  arguments  of  Arnold,  and  the  protestations  of 
Verin,  did  not  avail,  as  this  record  shows: 

The  21  die  of  the  3d  Month  [May,  1637] 

It  was  agreed  that  Joshua  Verin,  upon  the  breach  of  a  cove- 
nant for  restraining  of  the  libertie  of  conscience,  shall  be  with- 
held from  the  libertie  of  voting  till  he  shall  declare  the  contrarie.2 

This  affair  caused  the  first  breach  in  the  ranks  of  the 
colonists,  for  Verin,  resenting  the  action  of  the  meeting, 
abandoned  the  settlement  and  returned  to  Salem.  It  is 
easy  to  imagine  the  delight  with  which  the  opponents  of 
Williams,  in  the  Bay  Colony,  hailed  the  return  of  this 
man,  as  indicating  to  them  a  probability  of  the  failure  of 
Williams  as  a  political  leader  of  men. 

Verin  did  not  content  himself  with  merely  withdrawing 


betters  of  Roger  Williams — Pub.  Nar.  Club,  vi. 
2Rhode  Island  Records,  i.  16. 


A  Political  Bioneer  145 

from  Providence,  and  returning  to  Salem,  but  he  sent 
back  a  demand  for  a  recognition  of  his  title  to  his  share 
of  the  Providence  lands.  This  was  granted  him;  but  it 
would  appear  from  a  later  letter  to  Winthrop  that  Verin 
attempted  to  "get  even"  with  the  Providence  colonists 
and  especially  with  Williams. 

Roger  Williams  to  John  Winthrop. 

[Sept.  or  Oct.,  1638] 

Sir,  I  hear  that  two  malicious  persons,  one  I  was  bold  to 
trouble  your  worship  with  not  long  since,  Joshua  Verin,  and 
another  yet  with  us,  William  Arnold,  have  most  falsely  and 
slanderously  (as  I  hope  it  shall  appear)  complotted  together 
(even  as  Gardener  did  against  yourselves)  many  odious  accu- 
sations in  writing.  It  may  be  they  may  someway  come  to  your 
loving  hand,  I  presume  the  end  is  to  render  me  odious  both  to 
the  King's  majesty  as  also  to  yourselves,  I  shall  request  humbly 
your  wonted  love  and  gentleness,  (if  it  come  to  your  worships' 
hand)  to  help  me  with  the  sight  of  it  and  I  am  confident  yourself 
shall  be  the  judge  of  the  notorious  wickedness  and  malicious 
falsehoods  therein  and  that  there  hath  not  past  ought  from  me, 
either  concerning  the  maintaining  of  our  liberties  in  this  land, 
or  any  difference  with  yourselves  which  shall  not  manifest 
loyalty's  reverence,  modesty  and  tender  affection, 

The  Lord  Jesus,  the  Son  of  righteousness  shine  brightly  and 
eternally  on  you  and  yours  and  all  that  seek  him  that  was  cruci- 
fied.    In  him  I  ever  desire  to  be, 

Your  Worship's  most  unfeigned, 

Roger  Williams. 

DisafTections  among  the  New  England  colonists  were 
not.  however,  confined  to  the  immediate  followers  of 
Williams.  Notwithstanding  his  withdrawal  from  Salem, 
and  the  submission  of  that  church  to  the  authority  of  the 
magistracy    of  the  colony,  the  effects  of  his  teachings 


146  Roger  Williams 

still  remained  potent  and  the  atmosphere  of  Salem  was 
redolent  with  the  odor  of  his  memory.  Some  of  his 
adherents,  as  we  already  know,  followed,  or  accompanied, 
him  to  Providence.  Others  who  remained  behind  re- 
tained some  of  the  opinions  which  he  had  taught,  to  the 
manifest  disquietude  of  others.  Especially  did  these 
cling  to  the  belief  that  it  was  improper,  or  "unlawful," 
for  members  of  the  Puritan  congregations  of  New  England, 
to  attend  upon  the  worship  of  the  Church  of  England,  upon 
occasions  when  they  chanced  to  return  to  the  mother 
country  upon  visits  of  business  or  pleasure.  So  ardent 
did  the  controversy  become  at  length,  that  the  church  at 
Salem  sent  a  deputation  of  two  brethren,  bearing  a  cir- 
cular letter,  addressed  to  the  other  churches  of  the  Bay, 
asking  their  advice  in  the  matter.  The  record  made  by 
Governor  Winthrop,  concerning  this  affair,  is  full  of 
interest.  On  the  twelfth  day  of  April,  1636,  the  governor 
thus  wrote: 

The  church  of  Salem  was  still  infected  with  Mr.  Williams 
his  opinions,  so  as  most  of  them  held  it  unlawful  to  hear  in  the 
ordinary  assemblies  in  England,  because  their  foundation  was 
anti-christian  and  we  should,  by  hearing,  hold  communion  with 
them;  and  some  went  so  far  as  they  were  ready  to  separate  from 
the  church  upon  it.  Whereupon  the  church  sent  two  brethren 
and  a  letter  to  the  elders  of  other  churches,  for  their  advice  in 
three  points: 

1.  Whether  (for  satisfying  the  weak)  they  might  promise  not 
to  hear  in  England  any  false  church.  This  was  not  thought 
safe,  because  then  they  would  draw  them  to  the  like  toward  the 
other  churches  here,  who  were  all  of  opinion  that  it  was  lawful 
and  that  hearing  was  not  church  communion. 

2.  If  they  were  not  better,  to  grant  them  dismission  to  be  a 
church  by  themselves.  This  was  also  opposed,  for  that  it  was 
not  a  remedy  of  God's  ordering;  neither  would  the  magistrates 
allow  them  to  be  a  church,  being  but  three  men  and  eight  women; 


A  Political  Pioneer  147 

and  besides  it  were  dangerous  to  raise  churches  upon  such  grounds. 
8.  Whether  they  ought  then  to  excommunicate  them,  if  they 
did  withdraw.  This  was  granted,  yet  withal,  that  if  they  did 
not  withdraw  or  run  into  contempt,  they  ought,  in  these  matters 
of  difference  of  opinion  in  things  not  fundamental  nor  scanda- 
lous,  &c,  to  bear  each  with  other.1 

This  affair,  since  it  concerned  matters  neither  "fun- 
damental nor  scandalous,"  appears  to  have  gone  no 
farther  than  this.  But  the  people  of  the  Bay  were  to 
hear  still  further  of  Mr.  Williams.  In  March,  1637 
Governor  Winthrop  made  this  entry: 

While  the  General  Court  sate  there  came  a  letter  directed  to 
the  court,  from  John  Greene  of  Providence,  who  nof  long  before 
had  been  imprisoned  and  fined  for  saying  that  the  magistrates 
had  usurped  upon  the  power  of  Christ  in  his  church,  and  had 
persecuted  Mr.  Williams  and  another,  whom  they  had  banished 
for  disturbing  the  peace  by  divulging  their  opinions  against  the 
authority  of  the  magistrates,  &c,  but  upon  his  submission  his 
fine  was  remitted;  and  now, by  his  letter,  he  retracted  his  former 
submission  and  charged  the  court  as  he  had  done  before.  Now 
because  the  court  knew  that  divers  others  of  Providence  were  of 
the  same  ill  affection  to  the  court,  and  were  probably  suspected 
to  be  confederate  in  the  same  letter,  the  court  ordered  that  if 
any  of  that  plantation  were  found  within  our  jurisdiction,  he 
should  be  brought  before  one  of  the  magistrates  and  if  he  would 
not  disclaim  the  charge  in  the  said  letter,  he  should  be  sent 
home  and  charged  to  come  no  more  into  this  jurisdiction,  upon 
pain  of  imprisonment  and  further  censured.3 


'Winthrop,  i,   185. 
3Winthrop,  i,  266. 


CHAPTER  XI 

Fully  three  years  before  the  settlement  of  Providence, 
the  relations  between  the  white  settlers  and  the  natives 
had  become  quite  strained.  In  1633  two  traders  named 
Stone  and  Norton,  were  murdered  by  members  of  the 
Pequod  tribe,  who  inhabited  the  region  between  the  two 
rivers  now  known  as  the  Pawcatuck  and  the  Thames. 
The  Pequods  were  the  most  formidable  tribe  in  New 
England,  and  the  Narragansetts,  a  much  weaker  tribe, 
held  them  in  awe.  The  murder  of  the  traders  became 
known  to  the  Plymouth  Colony,  which  sent  the  intelli- 
gence to  the  Bay.  The  murder  of  John  Oldham  by  a 
party  of  Indians,  on  board  his  own  boat,  off  Block  Island, 
followed  soon  after.1  It  was  evident  that  the  Pequods 
were  preparing  for  a  general  war  of  extermination 
against  the  whites,  and  that  they  were  attempting  to  form 
an  alliance  with  the  Narragansetts  was  certain.  The 
New  England  colonies  were  alarmed  at  the  prospect  and 
were  especially  desirous  of  preventing,  if  possible,  the 
suggested  alliance  between  these  two  tribes.  There 
was  no  one  among  the  colonists  who  was  so  highly  regarded 
by  the  Narragansetts  as  Roger  Williams,  and  no  one 
whose  advice  they  would  be  so  likely  to  accept.  A  re- 
quest therefore  came  to  him  from  the  Bay,  that  he  would 
employ  his  good  offices  in  the  endeavor  to  induce  the 
Narragansetts  to  turn  aside  the  overtures  of  the  Pequods 
for  an  offensive  alliance  against  the  whites. 

Williams  did   not  hesitate,  but  at  once  set  out  for  the 


lWinthrop,  i,  1689,  190;  et  vide,  Bradford,  231,  232. 


A  Political  Pioneer  149 

wigwam  of  Canonicus.  It  was  a  hazardous  undertaking, 
made  doubly  so  by  the  presence  of  the  Pequod  envoys, 
whom  he  found  in  consultation  with  the  sachems  of  the 
Narragansetts.  At  the  peril  of  his  life  he  remained  for 
several  days,  surrounded  by  Indians,  sleeping  among 
them  at  night,  having  no  protection  save  the  influence  of 
the  friendly  disposition  which  he  had  maintained  toward 
the  natives,  since  his  first  coming  among  them.  In  his 
letter  to  Winthrop,  written  from  Plymouth,  we  have 
seen  that  his  great  desire  was  to  do  good  to  "the  natives' 
souls."  We  know  that  he  had  dwelt  among  them  for 
the  purpose  of  learning  their  language,  while  at  Plymouth 
and  at  Salem.  He  had  so  far  won  their  affections  that 
he  had  received  from  the  sachems  as  an  earnest  of  their 
good-will,  the  gift  of  a  large  tract  of  land,  at  the  head 
waters  of  the  Narragansett  Bay.  That  which  he  now 
asked  of  them  was,  perhaps,  the  greatest  possible  test 
of  their  friendly  disposition;  and  there  can  be  no  higher 
evidence  of  his  winning  manner  and  sweet  spirit, — of 
his  "many  precious  parts," — than  the  record  of  his 
success  in  this  perilous  undertaking. 

Sixteen  years  later,  in  the  year  1654,  addressing  the 
General  Court  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  upon  a  matter  of 
public  concern,  Mr.  Williams  wrote: 

Roger  Williams  to  the  General  Court  op 
Massachusetts  Bay. 

I  remember  that  upon  the  express  advice  of  your  ever  honored 
Mr.  Winthrop,  deceased,  I  first  adventured  to  begin  a  plantation 
among  the  thickest  of  these  barbarians.  That  in  the  Pequot  war 
it  pleased  your  honored  government  to  employ  me  in  the  hazard- 
ous and  weighty  service  of  negotiating  a  league  between  your- 
selves and  the  Narragansetts  when  the  Pequot  messengers,  who 


150  Roger  Williams 

sought  the  Narragansetts  league  against  the  English,  had  almost 
ended  that  my  work  and  life  together. 

That  at  the  subscribing  of  that  solemn  league,  which  by  the 
mercy  of  the  Lord,  I  had  procured  with  the  Narragansetts, 
your  government  was  pleased  to  send  unto  me  the  copy  of  it, 
subscribed  by  all  hands  there,  which  yet  I  keep  as  a  monument 
and  a  testimony  of  peace  and  faithfulness  between  you  both.1 

This  was  not  the  only  instance  in  which  the  Bay  Colony 
made  application  to  Mr.  Williams  to  employ  his  good 
offices  in  influence  with  his  Indian  friends,  during  this 
critical  time  in  the  history  of  the  New  England  colonies. 
Governor  Winthrop  in  the  same  year  makes  this  record : — 

1638,  Mo.  6,  3 — Janemoh,  the  sachem  of  Niantic,  had  gone  to 
Long  Island  and  rifled  some  of  those  Indians  which  were  tribu- 
taries to  us.  The  sachem  complained  to  our  friends  of  Conne- 
ticut,  who  wrote  us  about  it,  and  sent  Capt.  Mason,  with  seven 
men,  to  require  satisfaction.  The  governour  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts wrote  also  to  Mr.  Williams  to  treat  with  Miantunno- 
moh  about  satisfaction  or  otherwise  bid  them  look  for  war.2 

The  letter  of  Williams,  written  to  Major  Mason,  in 
the  year  1670, — which  has  already  more  than  once  been 
quoted, — gives,  in  a  somewhat  egotistical  tone,  the  story 
of  his  intervention,  to  avert  an  alliance  between  the  Pe- 
quods  and  the  Narragansetts. 

Roger  Williams  to  Major  Mason. 

Providence,  June  22, 1670  (ut  vulgo). 

When  the  next  year  after  my  banishment,  the  Lord  drew  the 
bow  of  the  Pequod  war  against  the  country,  in  which  Sir,  the 
Lord  made  yourself,  with  others,  a  blessed  instrument  of  peace 
to  all  New  England,  I  had  my  share  of  service  to  the  whole  land 


Plymouth  Colony  Records,  x,  438;  R.  I.  Col.  Rec.  i,  291;  Pubs.  Nar. 
Club,  vi,  269. 

2Winthrop,  \  267. 


A  Political  Pioneer  151 

in  that  Pequod  business,  inferior  to  very  few  that  acted,  for, 

1.  Upon  letters  received  from  the  Governor  and  council  at 
Boston,  requesting  me  to  use  my  utmost  and  speediest  endea- 
vors to  break  and  hinder  the  league  labored  for  by  the  Pequods 
against  the  Mohegans,  and  Pequods  against  the  English,  (ex- 
cusing the  not  sending  of  company  and  supplies,  by  the  haste 
of  the  business,)  the  Lord  helped  me  immediately  to  put  my 
life  into  my  hand,  and  scarce  acquainting  my  wife,  to  ship  my- 
self, all  alone,  in  a  poor  canoe  and  to  cut  through  a  stormy  wind, 
with  great  seas,  every  minute  in  hazard  of  life,  to  the  Sachem's 
house. 

2.  Three  days  and  nights  my  business  forced  me  to  lodge  and 
mix  with  the  bloody  Pequod  ambassadors,  whose  hands  and 
arms,  methought,  wreaked  with  the  blood  of  my  countrymen, 
murdered  and  massacred  by  them  on  Connecticut  river,  and 
from  whom  I  could  not  but  nightly  look  for  their  bloody  knives 
at  my  own  throat  also, 

3.  When  God  wondrously  preserved  me,  and  helped  me  to 
break  to  pieces  the  Pequods  negotiation  and  design,  and  to 
make  and  promote  and  finish,  by  many  travels  and  charges, 
the  English  league  with  the  Narragansetts  and  Mohegans  against 
the  Pequods,  and  that  the  English  forces  marched  up  to  the 
Narragansett  country  against  the  Pequods,  I  gladly  entertained 
at  my  house  in  Providence,  the  General  Stoughton  and  his 
officers  and  used  my  utmost  care  that  all  his  officers  and  soldiers 
should  be  well  accommodated  with  us. 

4.  I  marched  up  with  them  to  the  Narragansett  Sachems, 
and  brought  my  countrymen  and  the  barbarians,  Sachems  and 
captains,  to  a  mutual  confidence  and  complacence  each  in 
other. 

5.  Though  I  was  ready  to  have  marched  further,  yet  upon 
agreement  that  I  should  keep  at  Providence,  as  an  agent  between 
the  Bay  and  the  army,  I  returned  and  was  interpreter  and  intel- 
ligencer constantly  receiving  and  sending  letters  to  the  Gov- 
ernor and  Council  at  Boston,  &c.,  in  which  work  I  judge 
it  no  impertinent  discussion  to  recite,  (out  of  the  many  scores 
of  letters,  at  times,  from  Mr.  Winthrop)  this  one  pious  and 


152  Roger  Williams 

heavenly  prophecy,  touching  all  New  England,  of  that  gallant 
man,  viz:  "If  the  Lord  turn  away  his  face  from  our  sins,  and 
bless  our  endeavors  and  yours,  at  this  time  against  our  bloody 
enemy,  we  and  our  children  shall  long  enjoy  peace,  in  this  our 
wilderness  condition."  And  himself  and  some  other  of  the 
Council  motioned  and  it  was  debated,  whether  or  no  I  had  not 
merited,  not  only  to  be  recalled  from  banishment,  but  also  to 
be  honored  with  some  mark  of  favor.  It  is  known  who  hindered, 
who  never  promoted  the  liberty  of  other  men's  consciences. 
These  things  and  ten  times  more,  I  could  relate,  to  show  that  I 
am  not  a  stranger  to  the  Pequod  wars  and  lands,  and  possibly 
not  far  from  the  merit  of  a  foot  of  land  in  either  country,  which  I 
have  not.1 


Roger  Williams. 

Aside  from  this  statement  of  Roger  Williams  himself, 
there  is  ample  evidence  in  the  letters  themselves,  some 
of  which  are  extant,  of  his  excellent  services  as  "intelli- 
gencer/' during  the  continuance  of  the  troubles  with  the 
Pequods.  Governor  Winthrop  also  makes  frequent 
mention  of  letters  received  from  Williams,  during  this 
trying  period,  which  conveyed  to  the  Bay,  information 
of  the  greatest  value  in  the  conduct  of  the  war.2  One 
of  the  most  important  of  these  gave  information  as  to  the 
whereabouts  of  the  Pequod  forces. 

Roger  Williams  to  John  Winthrop. 

For  his  much  honored  Mr.   Governor,  and  Mr.   Winthrop, 
Deputy  Governor  of  the  Maffachufetts,  thefe. 

New  Providence,  this  2d  of  the  week.  [May,  1637.] 

Sir, — The  latter  end  of  the  laft  week  I  gave  notice  to  our 
neighbor  princes  of  your  intentions  and  preparations  againft  the 


'Mass.  Hist,  Soc.  Coll.  i,  275;  Pub.  Nar.  Club,  vi,  333. 
2Winthrop,  i,  190,  191,  193,  196,  199,  223,  225,  226. 


A  Political  Pioneer  153 

common  enemy,  the  Pequods.  At  my  firft  coming  to  them 
Canonicus  (morofus  oeque  ac  barbarex  fenex)  was  very  four,  and 
accufed  the  Englifh  and  myfelf  for  fending  the  plague  amongft 
them,  and  threatening  to  kill  him  efpecially. 

Such  tidings  (it  feems)  were  lately  brought  to  his  ears  by  fome 
of  his  flatterers  and  our  ill-williers.  I  difcerned  caufe  of  beftir- 
ring  myfelf,  and  ftaid  the  longer,  and  at  laft  (through  the  mercy 
of  the  most  High)  I  not  only  fweetened  his  fpirit,  but  poffeffed 
him,  that  the  plague  and  other  fickneffes  were  alone  in  the  hand 
of  the  one  God,  who  made  him  and  us,  who  being  difpleafed 
with  the  Englifh  for  lying,  ftealing,  idlenefs  and  uncleannefs, 
(the  natives'  epidemical  fins,)  fmote  many  thoufands  of  ourfelves 
with  general  and  late  mortalities. 

Miantunnomu  kept  his  barbarous  court  lately  at  my  houfe, 
and  with  him  I  have  far  better  dealing.  He  takes  fome  pleafure 
to  vifit  me,  and  fent  me  word  of  his  coming  over  again  fome 
eight  days  hence. 

They  pafs  not  a  week  without  fome  fkirmifhings,  though 
hitherto  little  lofs  on  either  fide.  They  were  glad  of  your  pre- 
parations, and  in  much  conference  with  themselves  and  others, 
(fifting  de  induftria  for  inftructions  from  them,)  I  gathered 
thefe  obfervations,  which  you  may  pleafe  (as  caufe  may  be) 
to  confider  and  take  notice  of: 

1.  They  conceive  that  to  do  execution  to  purpofe  on  the 
Pequods,  will  require  not  two  or  three  days  and  away,  but  a 
riding  by  it  and  following  of  the  work  to  and  again  the  fpace  of 
three  weeks  or  a  month,  that  there  be  a  falling  off  and  a  retreat, 
as  if  you  were  departed,  and  a  falling  on  again  within  three  or 
four  days,  when  they  are  returned  again  to  their  houfes  fecurely 
from  their  flight. 

2.  That  if  any  pinnaces  come  in  ken,  they  prefently  prepare 
for  flight,  women  and  old  men  and  children,  to  a  fwamp  fome 
three  or  four  miles  on  the  back  of  them,  a  marvellous  great  and 
fecure  fwamp,  which  they  called  Ohomowauke,  which  fignifies 
owl's  neft,  and  by  another  name,  Cuppocommock,  which  fignifies 
a  refuge  or  hiding  place,  as  I  conceive. 

3.  That  therefore  Nayantaquit,   (which  is  Miantunnomue's 


154»  Roger  Williams 

place  of  rendezvous,)  to  be  thought  on  for  the  riding  and  retir- 
ing to  of  veffel  or  veffels,  which  place  is  faithful  to  the  Narra- 
ganfetts  and  at  present  enmity  with  the  Pequods. 

4.  They  alfo  conceive  it  eafy  for  the  English,  that  the  pro- 
vifions  and  munitions  firft  arrive  at  Aquedneck,  called  by  us 
Rhode  Ifland,  at  the  Narraganfet's  mouth,  and  then  a  meffen- 
ger  may  be  defpatched  hither,  and  fo  to  the  bay,  for  the  foldiers 
to  march  up  by  land  to  the  veffels,  who  otherwise  might  fpend 
long  time  about  the  cape  and  fill  more  veffels  than  needs. 

5.  That  the  affault  would  be  in  the  night,  when  they  are  com- 
monly more  fecure  and  at  home,  by  which  advantage  the  Englifh, 
being  armed,  may  enter  the  houfes  and  do  what  execution  they 
pleafe. 

6.  That  before  the  affault  be  given,  an  ambufh  be  laid  behind 
them,  between  them  and  the  fwamp,  to  prevent  their  flight,  &c. 

7.  That  to  that  purpofe  fuch  guides  as  fhall  be  beft  liked  of 
to  be  taken  along  to  direct,  efpecially  two  Pequots,  viz. :  Wequafh 
and  Wuttackquickommin,  valiant  men,  efpecially  the  latter,  who 
have  lived  thefe  three  or  four  years  with  the  Narraganfetts,  and 
know  every  pafs  and  paffage  amongft  them,  who  defire  armour 
to  enter  their  houfes. 

8.  That  it  would  be  pleafing  to  all  natives,  that  women  and 
children  be  fpared,  &c. 

9.  That  if  there  be  any  more  land  travel  to  Connecticut, 
fome  courfe  would  alfo  be  taken  with  the  Wunhowatuckoogs, 
who  are  confederates  with  and  a  refuge  to  the  Pequods. 

Sir,  if  any  thing  be  fent  to  the  princes,  I  find  that  Canonicus 
would  gladly  accept  of  a  box  of  eight  or  ten  pounds  of  sugar, 
and  indeed  he  told  me  he  would  thank  Mr.  Governor  for  a  box 
full. 

Sir,  you  may  pleafe  to  take  notice  of  a  rude  view,  how  the 
Pequods  lie: 


A  Political  Pioneer  155 

65 


River  Connecticut. 


O  a  fort  of  the  Nay  antic  men,  confederate  with  the  Pequods 
Mohigadic 

River. 

Wein  O  shauks,  where     Ohom  \  owauke,  the  swamp 

Sassaeus  the  chief  Sachem  is.        three  or  four  miles  from- 
Mis  O  tick,  where  is  Mamobo,  another  chief  sachim. 

River. 

Nayantic,  O  where  is  Wepiteammock  and  our  friends. 

River. 

Thus,  with  my  beft  falutes  to  your  worthy  felves  and  loving 
friends  with  you,  and  daily  cries  to  the  Father  of  mercies  for  a 
merciful  iffue  to  all  thefe  enterprifes,  I  reft 

Your  worfhip's  unfeignedly  refpective 

Roger  Williams. 

Not  only  did  the  persuasions  of  Williams  induce  the 
Narragansetts  to  refrain  from  forming  an  alliance  with 
the  Pequods,  but  he  succeeded  also,  as  we  have  already 
learned,  in  committing  the  former  to  a  friendship  with  the 
Bay  people,  and  a  continued  hostility  to  their  old  enemies, 
the  Pequods.  In  the  summer  of  1637  a  party  of  Narra- 
gansetts succeeded  in  overpowering  a  company  of  Pe- 
quods and  killed  three.  Following  their  barbarous  habit 
a  hand  of  each  was  cut  off  and  the  three  hideous  trophies 
were  sent  to  Boston.  One  of  those  who  fell  was  the 
leader  of  the  party  of  Pequods  who  murdered  Stone  and 
Norton,  four  years  before.1     This  circumstance  came  to 


xVide,  Winthrop,  i,  237. 


156  Roger  Williams 

the  knowledge  of  Williams,  and  he  wrote  to  Winthrop, 
deprecating  the  mutilation  of  the  dead,  but  explaining 
that  he  had  suffered  the  hands  to  be  sent,  lest  he  should, 
by  objecting,  incur  the  suspicion,  on  the  part  of  the  natives, 
of  a  feeling  on  his  side,  of  superiority  over  them,  and  thus 
weaken  his  influence  over  them. 

Roger  Williams  to  John  Winthrop. 

To  his  much  honored  John  Winthrop,  Governor  of  the 

Maffachufetts. 

Much  honored  Sir, — I  was  fearful  that  thofe  dead  hands 
were  no  pleafing  fight  (otherwife  than  a  remarkable  vengeance 
had  feized  upon  the  firft  murderer  of  the  Englifh,  Wauphanck,) 
yet  I  was  willing  to  permit  what  I  could  not  approve,  leaft  if 
I  had  buried  the  prefent  myfelf,  I  should  have  incurred  fuf- 
picion  of  pride  and  wronged  my  betters,  in  the  natives  and 
others  eyes:  I  have  always  fhown  diflike  to  fuch  difmember- 
ing  the  dead,  and  now  the  more,  (according  to  your  defire)  in 
your  name. 

I  was  alfo  fearful  that  mine  own  hand  (having  no  commiflion 
from  my  heart)  which  is  not  in  mine  hand  (but  in  the  hand  of 
its  Maker,  the  Most  High)  to  write  you  ought  of  mine  own  return 
in  fpirituals,  I  fay  fearful  that  mine  own  might  not  be  fo  grateful 
and  pleafing  to  you:  but  being  called  upon  by  your  meffage  and 
your  love,  (your  paper),  I  am  emboldened. 

Concerning  the  Pequots,  the  foldiers  here  related  to  me  that 
Uncas  the  Mohiganie  Sachem  had  about  three  hundred  men 
with  him  on  the  Pequod  river,  fome  sixteen  miles  from  the  houfe, 
which  I  believe  are  most  of  them  Pequods  and  their  confederates 
the  Wunnafhowatuckoogs  and  their  Inlanders  (whom  he  charged 
under  pain  of  death  not  to  come  to  Canonicus)  and  with  whom 
he  hath  made  himfelf  great.  This  man  is  but  a  little  Sachem, 
and  hath  not  above  forty  or  fifty  Mohigans,  which  as  the  Englifh 
told  me  were  all  he  could  make. 

It  is  generally  confirmed  that  Thomas  Stanton,  (as  himfelf 
alfo  confeffed  to  me  at  my  houfe)  was  groffly  coufened  and 


A  Political  Pioneer  157 

deluded  by  one  Wequafhcuck  (a  Nayantaquit  Sachem)  who 
fheltered  four  Pequod  Sachems  and  fifty  Pequods  at  Long  Ifland, 
where  now  they  are,  where  peace  was  made  with  promife  from 
the  natives  to  permit  one  Pequot;  yet  Wequafhcuck  marrying 
Saffacous  his  mother  hath  thus  deceived  you.  This  Wequafh- 
cuck was  the  man  (to  my  knowledge)  that  fheltered  Audfah, 
the  murderer  of  Mr.  Oldham,  and  kept  his  head  fo  upon  his 
fhoulders:  yet  to  this  man  Thomas  Stanton  (as  it  appears)  did  too 
much  listen,  flighting  I  fear,  too  much  the  Narraganffetts. 

I  find  our  Neighbors  very  eager  to  purfue  thefe  four  Sachems 
and  the  fifty  Pequods  there,  I  preffed  them  to  patience  till  Mr. 
Governor's  mind  be  known,  and  Miantunnomu  (to  my  knowl- 
edge) doth  all  he  can  to  reftrain  them,  or  elfe  long  fince  they 
had  been  there.  They  plead  that  Mr.  Governor  may  pleafe  to 
accompany,  or  fend  himfelf  againft  them,  but  cannot  by  any 
article  in  the  league  bind  them  to  fuffer  fo  many  of  their  enemies 
in  a  knot  fo  neare  them. 

I  preff  them  to  humane  confideration  of  fo  much  blood  fpilt, 
they  anfwer  if  they  have  the  Sachems  heads  they  will  make  the 
reft  Narraganfetts,  and  for  the  Long  Iflanders  themselves  and 
Wequafhcuck,  they  will  not  meddle  with  them,  becaufe  of  the 
peace  Mr.  Stoughton  made  with  them. 

Concerning  the  kettles:  Miantunnomu  anfwers,  that  he  hath 
been  much  wronged  by  the  reports  of  enemies  and  falfe  friends 
to  whom  fome  of  us  (as  he  faith)  hath  harkened  before  himfelf. 

He  faith  he  never  knew  of  more  than  two,  one  of  which  the 
Englifh  ufed  at  the  houfe,  and  the  other  as  he  hears  is  at  the 
Fort  ftill:  he  faith,  he  hath  many  of  his  own,  and  indeed  when 
I  came  firft  hither  I  faw  near  ten  of  twelve  which  himfelf  or 
Canonicus  had. 

He  repaid  me  with  a  grievance  about  a  Pequod  canoe  which 
he  defired  might  be  ordered  by  your  own  hearing,  but  it  was 
denied  him:  his  plea  feems  very  fair:  thus  this  brother  Yoteafh 
having  taken  the  great  Sachem  (Puttaquappuonckquame  who 
was  kept  in  the  pinnace  alive  fometime)  took  his  canoe,  which, 
faith  he,  the  Englifh  Captains  fitting  all  together  were  very 
willing   unto:    this   canoe   Mr.   Stoughton   afterwards   brought 


158  Roger  Williams 

about  homeward:  Miantunnomu  and  his  brother  claim  it:  'twas 
denied:  he  requefted  that  it  might  be  left  at  my  houfe  till  Mr. 
Governor's  mind  was  known.  Capt.  Stoughton  would  not 
yield,  but  desired  him  to  go  along  to  me,  but  faith  he,  I  would 
not  truft  myself  with  him,  feeing  he  would  not  ftand  to  Mr. 
Governor's  determination  about  the  canoe:  I  would  not  have 
mentioned  this  leaft  it  might  provoke  Mr.  Stoughton  or  any: 
but  I  know  to  whom  I  intimate  it:  and  I  have  pretty  well  ap- 
peafed  the  matter  already. 

He  anfwers,  all  I  can  object  to  him  with  this :  let  Mr.  Governor 
have  the  hearing  of  it:  I  will  reft  in  his  word,  and  objecting  to 
him  in  the  particular  before  divers,  that  the  Englifh  complain 
he  was  proud,  he  defired  that  I  would  prefent  to  Mr.  Governor 
thefe  particulars,  that  he  had  cause  to  maintain  his  right,  becaufe 
the  Connecticut  Englifh  equalled  Uncas  and  the  Mohigans  with 
himfelf  and  his  men. 

Whereas  faith  he,  thefe  Mohigans  are  but  a  twig,  we  are  as 
a  great  tree. 

They  fell  to  the  Englifh  but  laft  year,  we  have  been  ever 
friends,  &c. 

Uncas  and  his  men  had  a  hand  in  the  death  of  all  the  Eng- 
lifh and  fought  againft  the  Rivers  mouth  (at  Connecticut)  we 
never  killed  nor  confented  to  the  death  of  an  Englifh  man. 

When  the  Dutchmen  and  we  fought;  with  the  Pequods  the 
Mohigans  joined  against  us. 

When  Capt.  Endicott  came  againft  the  Pequoids  the  Mohigans 
received  the  Pequod  women  and  children  and  kept  them,  while 
the  men  fought  with  him,  &c. 

Uncas  brought  prefents  to  Canonicus,  and  Miantunnomu,  yet 
at  the  same  time  killed  two  of  his  women  treacheroufly. 

They  fell  to  the  Englifh  this  year  in  fear  of  other  policy,  and 
we,  (faith  he)  have  continued  friendfhip  and  love  ever  fince 
they  landed.  Thus  he  pleaded,  &c,  and  yet  proud  and  covet- 
ous and  filthy  they  are,  &c,  only  I  was  willing  to  gratify  him 
in  this,  becaufe  as  I  know  your  own  heart  ftudies  peace,  and 
their  foul's  good,  fo  your  wif dom  may  make  ufe  of  it  unto  others 


A  Political  Pioneer  159 

who  happily  take  fome  pleafure  in  wars:  The  bleffed  God  of 
Peace  be  pleafed  to  give  you  peace  within,  at  home,  and  round 
about  you  abroad  So  prays 

Your  worfbip's  unfeignedly  refpective 

Roger  Williams. 

To  Mrs.  Winthrop,  Mr.  Deputy,  Mr.  Bellingham,  &c,  all 
refpective  falutations. 

I  have  at  prefent  returned  Richard  Collicut's  Pequod  girl, 
which  Miantunnomu  found  out,  and  defired  me  to  fend  home 
with  promife  of  further  enquiring. 

The  statement  of  Williams,  in  his  letter  to  the  General 
Court,  that  a  copy  of  the  league  with  the  Narragansetts 
was  sent  to  him  by  the  government  of  the  Bay,  is  corrob- 
orated by  Winthrop;  but  yet,  it  would  appear  that  this 
copy  was  sent,  not  so  much  in  compliment  to  Williams, 
and  in  recognition  of  the  important  part  which  he  had 
played,  as  that  he  might  interpret  its  contents  to  the 
sachems,  to  whom  Winthrop  had  not  been  able  to  ex- 
plain its  exact  meaning.  Governor  Winthrop's  record 
follows : — 

1636,  8  ber,  21. — Miantunnomoh  the  sachem  of  the  Narra- 
gansett  (being  sent  for  by  the  Governour)  came  to  Boston  with 
two  of  Canonicus's  sons  and  another  sachem  and  near  twenty 
sanaps.  Cutshamakin  gave  us  notice  the  day  before.  The 
governour  sent  twenty  musketeers  to  meet  him  at  Roxbury.  He 
came  to  Boston  about  noon.  The  governour  had  called  together 
most  of  the  magistrates  and  ministers  to  give  countenance  to 
our  proceedings  and  to  advise  with  them  about  the  terms  of 
peace.  It  was  dinner  time  and  the  sachems  and  their  council 
dined  by  themselves  in  the  same  room  where  the  governour  dined, 
and  their  sanaps  were  sent  to  the  inn.  After  dinner  Miantun- 
nomoh declared  what  he  had  to  say  to  us  in  [blank]  propositions 
which  were  to  this  effect:  That  they  had  always  loved  the  Eng- 
lish and  desired  firm  peace  with  us;  that  they  would  continue  in 


160  Roger  Williams 

war  with  the  Pequods  and  their  confederates,  till  they  were 
subdued;  and  desired  we  should  do  so:  They  would  deliver 
our  enemies  to  us  or  kill  them.  That  if  any  of  theirs  should 
kill  our  cattle,  that  we  would  not  kill  them,  but  cause  them  to 
make  satisfaction:  That  they  would  now  make  a  firm  peace 
and  two  months  hence  they  would  send  us  a  present. 

The  governour  told  them  they  should  have  answer  the  next 
morning. 

In  the  morning  we  met  again  and  concluded  the  peace  upon 
the  articles  underwritten,  which  the  governour  subscribed  and 
they  also  subscribed  with  their  marks  and  Cutshamakin  also. 
But  because  we  could  not  well  make  them  understand  the 
articles  perfectly  we  agreed  to  send  a  copy  of  them  to  Mr.  Williams 
who  could  best  interpret  them  to  them.  So  after  dinner  they  took 
leave  and  were  conveyed  out  of  town  by  some  musketeers  and 
dismissed  with  a  volley  of  shot. 

THE  ARTICLES. 

1.  A  firm  peace  between  us  and  our  friends  of  other  planta- 
tions, (if  they  consent)  and  their  confederates,  (if  they  will  ob- 
serve the  articles,   &c.)  and  our  posterities. 

2.  Neither  party  to  make  peace  with  the  Pequods  without 
the  other's  consent. 

3.  Not  to  harbor,  &c,  the  Pequods,  &c. 

4.  To  put  to  death  or  deliver  over  murderers,  &c. 

5.  To  return  our  fugitive  servants,    &c. 

6.  We  to  give  them  notice  when  we  go  against  the  Pequods 
and  they  to  send  us  some  guides. 

7.  Free  trade  between  us. 

8.  None  of  them  to  come  near  our  plantations  during  the 
wars  with  the  Pequods,  without  some  Englishman  or  known 
Indian. 

9.  To  continue  to  the  posterity  of  both  parties.1 

The  Pequods,  chagrined  at  their  lack  of  success  in  turn- 


lWinthrop,  i,  %55. 


A  Political  Pioneer  161 

ing  the  Narragansetts  against  their  white  friends,  proph- 
esied to  them  that  they  would  yet  find  the  English  to 
be  treacherous  and  not  their  friends.  Not  long  after,  a 
circumstance  occurred  which  at  first  seemed  to  give  a 
color  to  this  opinion.  Four  young  men  of  the  Bay,  from 
the  serving  class,  left  the  settlement  with  the  intent  of 
going  to  the  Dutch  plantation  at  Manhattoes.  Midway 
between  the  Boston  and  the  Narragansett  country, 
they  sat  down  to  rest  and  to  smoke.  While  thus  engaged, 
a  Narragansett  Indian  passed  by,  whom  they  called  and 
invited  to  stop  and  smoke  with  them.  The  Indian  in- 
cautiously accepted  the  invitation.  The  party  of  whites, 
seeing  that  their  visitor,  who  was  a  trader,  had  with  him 
a  large  quantity  of  wampum,  besides  cloth  and  beads, 
murderously  attacked  him  and,  after  robbing  him,  left 
him  for  dead.  The  Indian,  who  was  mortally  wounded, 
revived  sufficiently  to  drag  himself  home,  where  he  died 
of  his  hurts. 

His  friends  lying  in  wait  for  the  murderers,  captured 
three  of  them  and  delivered  them  to  the  authorities  at 
Aquineck,  where  they  were  formally  accused  of  robbery 
and  murder. 

Let  us  read  Bradford's  quaint  account  of  the  sequel: — 

The  Indians  sent  for  Mr.  Williams  &  made  a  greevous  com- 
plainte;  his  friends  and  kinred  were  ready  to  rise  in  armes  and 
provock  the  rest  thereunto,  some  conceiving  they  should  now 
find  ye  Pequents  words  trew:  that  ye  English  would  fall  upon 
them.  But  Mr.  Williams  pacified  them,  &  tould  them  they 
should  see  justice  done  upon  ye  offenders;  &  wente  to  ye  man  & 
tooke  Mr.  James  a  phisition  with  him.  The  man  tould  him 
who  did  it  and  in  what  maner  it  was  done;  but  ye  phisition  found 
his  wounds  mortall,  and  that  he  could  not  live,  (as  he  after  tes- 
tified upon  othe,  before  ye  jurie  in  oppen  courte)  and  so  he  dyed 
shortly  after,  as  both  Mr.  Williams,  Mr.  James  &  some  Indeans 


162  Roger  Williams 

testified  in  courte.  The  Govrt  in  ye  Bay  were  aquented  with  it, 
but  refferred  it  hither,  because  it  was  done  in  this  jurisdiction; 
but  pressed  by  all  means  yt  justice  might  be  done  in  it,  or  els  ye 
countrie  must  rise  and  see  justice  done,  otherwise  it  would  raise 
a  warr.  Yet  some  of  ye  rude  &  ignorant  sort  murmured  that 
any  English  should  be  put  to  death  for  ye  Indeans.  So  at  last 
they  of  ye  iland  brought  them  hither,  and  being  often  examened, 
and  ye  evidence  prodused,  they  all  in  the  end  freely  confessed  in 
effect  all  yt  the  Indean  accused  them  of,  &  that  they  had  done 
it  in  ye  maner  afforesaid;  and  so,  upon  ye  forementioned  evi- 
dence, were,  cast  by  ye  jurie,  &  condemned,  &  executed  for  the 
same.  And  some  of  ye  Narigansett  Indeans,  &  of  ye  parties 
freinds,  were  presente  when  it  was  done,  which  gave  them  & 
all  ye  countrie  good  satisfaction.1 


Bradford,  434,  etseq;et  vide  Winthrop,  i,  267,  et  seq. 


CHAPTER  XII 

We  find  Roger  Williams,  a  year  or  more  after  his  settle- 
ment at  Providence,  for  the  first  time, — so  far  as  we  have 
any  knowledge, — becoming  interested  in  the  theological 
tenets  of  the  Anabaptists.  Allusion  has  been  made  to 
some  excesses  and  extravagancies  of  this  sect,  in  the  early 
portion  of  their  history.  These  had  been  eliminated, 
in  the  century  which  had  passed;  and  their  belief  in  the 
invalidity  of  infant  baptism  was  now  the  remnant  of 
their  creed  which  survived,  and  which  many  of  the  Sepa- 
ratists had  embraced.  There  is  no  evidence  that  Will- 
iams, in  England,  in  Boston,  in  Plymouth,  or  in  Salem, 
had  ever  seriously  examined  these  tenets.  A  year  or 
two  after  his  settlement  at  Providence,  however,  they 
seem  to  have  been  brought  to  his  attention  and  consider- 
ation, by  Mrs.  Scott,  a  sister  of  Mrs.  Anne  Hutchinson, 
the  leader  of  the  famous  antinomian  controversy.  And 
now  comes  into  the  narrative  a  singular  character,  who 
for  a  moment  appears,  and  as  quickly  disappears.  The 
records  of  the  General  Court  of  the  Colony  of  Massa- 
chusetts Bay,  under  the  date  of  the  twelfth  day  of  the 
first  month,  1637-8  show  this  entry: 

Ezechiell  Holliman  appearing  upon  summons,  because  hee 
did  not  frequent  the  publike  assemblyes  &  for  seduceing  many, 
hee  was  refer d  by  the  Court  to  the  ministers  for  conviction.1 

From  this  entry  it  would  appear  that  the  Puritan  the- 
ocracy in  New  England  was  disposed  to  adopt  and  en- 
force some,  at  least,  of  the  provisions  of  the  Act  of  Uni- 

1Records  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  i,  221. 


164  Roger  Williams 

formity  of  Elizabeth.  Holliman,  who  was  a  man  in 
humble  walks  of  life  in  Salem,  seems  to  have  resented 
the  action  of  the  General  Court  and,  probably  without 
waiting  for  the  impending  action  of  the  ministers  in  his 
case,  became  a  voluntary  exile  from  the  colony  and 
repaired  to  Providence  Plantations.  That  this  removal 
was  immediate  is  made  certain  from  a  record  made  by 
Governor  Winthrop,  in  the  same  month  and  year  in 
which  the  action  of  the  General  Court  was  taken.  By 
this  it  appears  that  Holliman,  at  once,  upon  his  arrival 
joined  with  Mrs.  Scott  in  impressing  upon  Williams 
the  doctrines  embodied  in  the  tenets  of  the  Anabaptists, 
and  especially  that  sentiment  which  discarded  a  belief 
in  the  validity  of  infant  baptism.  Winthrop's  record  is 
of  deep  interest,  as  showing  that  Williams  now  yielded  to 
the  arguments  and  persuasions  of  Mrs.  Scott  and  of 
Holliman,  and  committed  himself  fully,  for  the  time 
being,  to  their  tenets.     Thus  Governor  Winthrop  writes: 

1633,  Mo.  1,  16. — At  Providence  things  grew  still  worse; 
for  a  sister  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson,  the  wife  of  one  Scott,  being 
infected  with  Anabaptistry  and  going  last  year  to  live  at  Provi- 
dence, Mr.  Williams  was  taken  (or  rather  emboldened)  by  her 
to  make  open  profession  thereof,  and  accordingly  was  rebap- 
tised  by  one  Holyman,  a  poor  man,  late  of  Salem.  Then  Mr. 
Williams  rebaptized  him  and  some  ten  more.  They  also  denied 
the  baptizing  of  infants  and  would  have  no  magistrates.1 

It  is  to  be  noted  that,  in  none  of  the  large  number  of 
the  letters  extant  of  Roger  Williams,  is  mentioned  the 
name  of  Holliman.  Neither  does  it  appear  in  this  record 
of  Winthrop,  nor  in  similar  records  made  by  Morton,  in 
his  New  England's  Memorial,  Hubbard  in  his  History, 
or  Mather,  in  his  Magnalia,  by  what  mode  Holliman  and 


Winthrop,  i,  293. 


I  i 

r-    Q. 


.—      / 

s 
o 


A  Political  Pioneer  165 

Williams  performed  these  re-baptisms.  There  is  some 
evidence,  however  that  the  practice  of  baptism  by  im- 
mersion, as  a  newly  adopted  mode,  was  presented  to 
Mr.  Williams's  attention  as  a  matter  of  interest,  fully 
eleven  years  after  his  baptism  by  Holliman.  In  Novem- 
ber, 1649,  he  thus  wrote  to  Winthrop: 

Roger  Williams  to  John  Winthrop. 

***** 

At  Seekonk  a  great  many  have  lately  concurred  with  Mr. 
John  Clarke  and  our  Providence  men  about  the  point  of  a  new 
Baptism  and  the  manner  by  dipping:  and  Mr.  John  Clarke  had 
been  there  lately  (and  Mr.  Lucor)  and  hath  dipped  them.  I 
believe  their  practice  comes  nearer  the  first  practice  of  our  great 
Founder  Christ  Jesus,  then  other  practices  of  our  religion  do, 
and  yet  I  have  not  satisfaction,  neither  in  the  authority  by  which 
it  is  done,  nor  in  the  manner;  nor  in  the  prophesies  concerning 
the  rising  of  Christ's  Kingdom  after  the  desolations  by  Rome.1 
***** 

From  this  letter  it  must  be  understood  that  Williams, 
at  the  time  at  which  it  was  written,  still  retained  a  belief 
in  the  non-efficacy  of  infant  baptism — the  leading  tenet 
of  the  Anabaptists  of  that  age, — but  could  not  recognize 
the  authority  of  any  person  to  administer  the  ordinance, 
nor  could  he  favor  the  mode  of  immersion,  which  some 
of  the  sect  had,  by  that  time,  adopted. 

For  the  sequence  to  this  new  departure  of  Williams 
we  are  forced  again  to  search  the  records  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts historians  and  annalists.  Winthrop,  whose 
record  was  contemporaneous,  but  who  must  have  re- 
cieved  his  information  at  second-hand,  thus  relates  it: 

1639.  5  Mo.  [July]. — At  Providence  matters  went  after  the 
old  manner.     Mr.  Williams  and  many  of  his  company,  a  few 

•Pubs.  Nar.  Club.  vi.   188. 


166  Roger  Williams 

months  since,  were  in  all  haste  re-baptized,  and  denied  commu- 
nion with  all  others,  and  now  he  was  come  to  question  his  second 
baptism,  not  being  able  to  derive  the  authority  of  it  from  the 
apostles,  otherwise  than  by  the  ministers  of  England  (whom 
he  judged  to  be  ill  authority)  so  as  he  conceived  God  would  rise 
up  some  apostolick  power,  therefore  he  bent  himself  that  way, 
expecting,  (as  was  supposed)  to  become  an  apostle;  and  having, 
a  little  before,  refused  communion  with  all,  save  his  own  wife, 
now  he  would  preach  to  and  pray  with  all  comers.  Whereupon 
some  of  his  followers  left  him  and  returned  back  from  whence 
they  went.1 

Cotton  Mather  explains  the  matter,  and  the  position 
assumed  by  Williams  more  clearly,  although  at  greater 
length: 

Upon  the  sentence  of  the  court,  Mr.  Williams  with  his  party 
going  abroad,  (as  one  says)  to  "seek  their  providences,"  removed 
into  the  southern  parts  of  New  England,  where  he,  with  a  few 
of  his  own  sect,  settled  a  place  called  Providence.  There  they 
proceeded  not  only  unto  the  gathering  of  a  thing  like  a  church, 
but  unto  the  renouncing  of  their  infant  baptism;  and  at  this 
further  step  of  separation  they  stopped  not,  fejat  Mr.  Williams 
quickly  told  them  "that  being  himself  misled;  he  had  led  them 
likewise  out  of  the  way;"  he  was  now  satisfied  that  there  was  none 
upon  earth  that  could  administer  baptism,  and  so  that  their  late 
baptism,  as  well  as  their  first,  was  a  nullity,  for  the  want  of  a 
called  administration;  he  advised  them  therefore  to  forego  all, 
to  dislike  everything  and  wait  for  the  coming  of  new  apostles; 
whereupon  they  dissolved  themselves  and  became  that  sort  of 
sect  which  we  term  seekers,  keeping  to  that  one  principle  "that 
everyone  should  have  the  liberty  to  worship  God  according  to 
the  light  of  his  own  conscience;"  but  owning  of  no  true  churches 
or  ordinances  now  in  the  world.2 

Within  the  brief  space  of  a  few  weeks,  therefore,  we 


^inthrop,  i,  307. 

2Magnalia  Christi  Americana,  ii,  498. 


A  Political  Pioneer  167 

find  that  Roger  Williams,  urged  by  Mrs.  Scott  and  Hol- 
1  in i;ui,  had  embraced  the  doctrines  of  the  Anabaptists; 
discarded,  or  repudiated  as  invalid,  the  baptism  received 
from  the  English  church  in  infancy;  accepted  a  new 
baptism  at  the  hands  of  Holliman — himself  unbaptized — ; 
repudiated,  in  turn,  this  re-baptism;  and  adopted  the 
curious  belief,  that,  whereas  Christ  did  not  transmit 
to  his  apostles,  with  their  authority  to  baptize,  the  au- 
thority to  transmit  that  authority  in  turn  to  others,  there- 
fore there  is  in  the  world  to-day  no  valid  baptism.  Yet, 
although  deserted  by  Roger  Williams,  whom  they,  no 
doubt,  hoped  would  have  been  their  life-long  leader,  the 
little  cluster  of  Anabaptists,  who  then  formed  them- 
selves into  a  church,  increased  and  multiplied  upon 
their  foundation.  Upon  this  foundation,  thus  established, 
stands  today  the  First  Baptist  Church,  of  Providence, 
which   is   the  first   Baptist  church  of  America. 

This  episode,  for  it  seems  to  have  been  little  more  than 
an  episode  in  the  life  of  Roger  Williams,  does  not  appear 
to  have  occupied  his  mind,  to  the  exclusion  of  other,  and 
to  him  more  important,  controversial  points.  Soon  after 
the  departure  of  Williams  from  Salem,  a  controversy  in 
writing  sprang  up  between  him  and  his  old  antagonist, 
John  Cotton.  The  subject  matter  of  the  correspondence 
was  mainly  the  contention  of  Williams,  that  it  was  a  sin- 
ful thing  for  the  members  of  the  New  England  churches 
to  hold  communion  with,  or  attend  upon  the  services  of, 
the  churches  of  the  Establishment,  upon  occasions  when 
they  might  chance  to  be  in  England,  upon  more  or  less 
extended  visits.  In  other  words,  it  was  a  reiteration  of 
the  arguments  respectively  of  the  Puritan  non-conformists 
and  of  the  Separatists,  and  was  probably  an  expansion  of 
the  discussion  of  years  before,  during  the  ride  of  Williams, 
Cotton    and    Hooker,    to    Sempringham.     The    opening 


168  Roger  Williams 

letters  of  this  correspondence  are  not  preserved,  but  it 
is  believed  that  it  was  begun  by  John  Cotton,  in  the  en- 
deavor to  convince  Williams  that  his  contentions  with 
the  Massachusetts  colonists  were  builded  upon  "sandie" 
foundations. 

In  the  year  1643,  there  appeared  in  print  in  London, 
a  letter  of  Cotton  addressed  to  Williams,  after  the  method 
of  the  pamphleteers.  Williams  was  now  in  London, 
sent  over  as  an  agent  of  the  new  colony  to  endeavor  to 
procure  a  royal  charter.  This  letter  as  before  shown, 
dealt  especially  with  the  contentions  of  the  two  concerning 
the  question  of  communion  or  intercourse  with  the  En- 
glish church.  It  is  evident,  however,  that  in  a  letter 
which  had  previously  passed  from  Williams  to  Cotton, 
the  writer  had  charged  upon  his  correspondent  an  es- 
pecial personal  responsibility  for  his  banishment.  Mr. 
Cotton  departs  from  the  line  of  his  argument  sufficiently 
to  endeavor  to  refute  this  charge. 

"  Let  not  any  prejudice  against  my  person,  (I  beseech  you)  " 
writes  John  Cotton,  "  forestall  either  your  affection  or  judgement, 
as  if  I  had  hastened  forward  the  sentence  of  your  civill  banish- 
ment; for  what  was  done  by  the  magistrates  in  that  kinde,  was 
neither  done  by  my  counsell  nor  consent,  although  I  dare  not 
deny  the  sentence  passed  to  be  righteous  in  the  eyes  of  God, 
who  hath  said  that  he  that  with-holdeth  the  Corne  (which  is  the 
staffe  of  life)  from  the  people,  the  multitude  shall  curse  him. 
Prov.  11,  26,  how  much  more  shall  they  separate  such  from 
them  as  doe  withhold  and  separate  them  from  the  Ordinances, 
or  the  Ordinances  from  them  (which  are  in  Christ  the  bread  of 
life)  And  yet  it  may  be  they  passed  that  sentence  against  you  not 
upon  that  ground,  but  for  aught  I  know,  upon  your  other  cor- 
rupt doctrines,  which  tend  to  the  disturbance  both  of  civill  and 
holy  peace,  as  may  appeare  by  that  answer  which  was  sent  to 
the  Brethren  of  the  Church  of  Salem  and  to  your  selfe.  And  to 
speake  freely  what  I  thinke,  were  my  soul  in  your  souls  stead, 


A  Political  Pioneer  169 

I  should  thinke  it  a  worke  of  mercy  of  God  to  banish  me  from 
the  civill  Society  of  such  a  Commonwealth  when  I  could  not 
injoy  holy  fellowship  with  any  church  of  God  amongst  them 
without  sin.  What  should  the  daughter  of  Zion  doe  in  Babell  ? 
Why  should  she  not  hasten  to  flee  from  thence?  Zach.  2,  6,  70. l 

To  this  letter  Mr.  Williams  made  an  early  reply,  which 
was  published  in  London,  in  the  year  following  the  pub- 
lication of  the  letter  of  Cotton.  In  this  reply  Williams, 
in  a  prefatory  note  addressed  "To  the  Impartiall  Reader," 
gives  a  resume  of  the  correspondence  which  had  preceded. 
In  this  he  asserts  that  Mr.  Cotton  claims  to  have  pro- 
tested, "both  in  speech  and  writing,"  that  he  was  no 
procurer  of  the  sorrows  of  Mr.  Williams.  To  this  prot- 
estation Williams  had  made  reply  that  if  he  "had  perished 
in  that  sorrowful  winter's  flight,  only  the  blood  of  Jesus 
Christ  could  have  washed  "  Mr.  Cotton  from  the  guilt  of 
his  death.  To  this  Mr.  Cotton  had  rejoined:  "Had  you 
perished,  your  blood  had  beene  on  your  owne  head;  it 
was  your  sinne  to  procure  it,  and  your  sorrow  to  suffer 
it." 

At  this  point  the  correspondence  appears  to  have 
ceased,  to  be  reopened  later,  after  the  appearance  in 
print  of  the  letter  of  Mr.  Cotton,  as  already  narrated 
Mr.  Williams'  reply  was  written  in  England,  during  the 
visit  which  was  made  for  the  purpose  of  procuring  a 
charter  for  the  colony,  as  already  explained.  In  this 
epistle  he  takes  up  the  points  of  Mr.  Cotton's  letter  seria- 
tim, and  replies  to  them  in  true  controversial  style.  In 
this  he  likewise  refers  to  his  banishment  and  its  causes, 
in  these  words: 

But  because  the  Reader  may  aske  both  Mr.  Cotton  and  me, 
what  were  the  grounds  of  such  a  sentence  of  Banishment  against 


'Publications  of  Narragansett  Club,  i,  13. 


170  Roger  Williams 

me,  which  are  here- called  sandie,  I  shall  relate  in  brief  what 
those  grounds  were,  some  whereof  he  is  pleased  to  discusse  in 
this  letter  and  others  of  them  not  to  mention. 

After  my  publike  triall  and  answers  at  the  generall  Court,  one 
of  the  most  eminent  magistrates  (whose  name  and  speech  may 
by  others  be  remembered)  stood  up  and  spake: 

"Mr.  Williams,'*  (said  he)  "holds  forth  these  4  particulars: 

"  First.  That  we  have  not  our  land  by  Pattent  from  the  King, 
but  that  the  natives  are  the  true  owners  of  it,  and  that  we  ought 
to  repent  of  such  a  receiving  it  by  Pattent. 

"Secondly.  That  it  is  not  lawfull  to  call  a  wicked  person  to 
Sweare,  to  Pray,  as  being  actions  of  God's  worship. 

"Thirdly.  That  it  is  not  lawfull  to  heare  any  of  the  ministers 
of  the  Parish  Assemblies  in  England. 

"  Fourthly.  That  the  Civill  Magistrates  power  extends  only  to 
the  Bodies  and  Goods  and  outward  state  of  men,   &c." 

I  acknowledge  the  particulars  were  rightly  summ'd  up  and 
I  also  hope  that,  as  I  then  maintained  the  Rockie  strength  of 
them  to  my  own  &  other  consciences  satisfaction  so  (through 
the  Lord's  assistance)  I  shall  be  ready  for  the  same  grounds, 
not  only  to  be  bound  and  banished,  but  to  die  also,  in  New 
England,  as  for  most  holy  Truths  of  God  in  Jesus  Christ.1 

This  reply  of  Williams  was  followed  by  a  rejoinder  by 
Cotton,  published  under  the  title:  A  Reply  to  Mr. 
Williams  his  Examination  and  Answer  of  the  Letters  sent 
to  him  by  John  Cotton.  In  this  rejoinder  Cotton  makes  a 
still  wider  departure  than  did  Williams,  from  the  main 
topic  of  his  discourse,  and  gives  reply  at  considerable 
length,  and  with  no  little  warmth,  to  those  statements  of 
Williams  concerning  the  causes  of  his  banishment.  With 
great  vigor  Cotton  assails  the  position  of  Williams,  that 
it  was  sinful  for  the  members  of  the  New  England  churches 
to  attend  upon  divine  worship  in  the  churches  of  the 


Tub.  of  Nar.  Club,  i,  40. 


A  Political  Pioneer  171 

English  Establishment;  and  he  maintains  by  argument 
the  attitude  assumed  by  Higginson,  as  he  stood  upon  the 
prow  of  the  vessel  which  was  bearing  him  to  the  New 
World  and  its  possibilities,  and  saw  the  shores  of  England 
recede  from  his  view.  Diverging  from  this  argument 
he  assails  the  statements  made  by  his  antagonist  con- 
cerning his  banishment,  and  the  circumstances  which 
led  up  to  it,  in  these  words: 

It  was  not  my  intent  in  that  Letter  which  he  examineth,  to 
discusse  the  grounds  of  his  Civill  Banishment  at  all,  neither  did 
I  discusse  one  or  other  of  them.  And  it  is  a  preposterous  shifting 
of  the  State  of  the  Question,  to  put  it  upon  me  to  give  account  of 
the  causes  of  his  Banishment,  who  neither  did  banish  him,  nor 
provoked  the  Court  to  banish  him  out  of  the  Countrey.  The 
Magistrates  and  Deputies  of  the  Common-wealth  (who  were 
then  the  Members  of  that  Court)  are  all  of  them  of  age,  and  able 
themselves  to  give  account  of  their  own  actions.  To  them  or 
some  of  them  he  should  in  reason  have  addressed  himselfe  for 
satisfaction  in  this  case  (if  any  were  due)  and  not  to  me,  who 
am  seldome  present  at  any  Civill  Court,  (if  not  more  seldome) 
then  any  man  of  our  calling  in  Towne  of  Countrey,  where  the 
Courts  are  kept.  It  were  more  than  Egyptian  bondage  to  me, 
and  more  than  Pharaonicall  tyranny  in  him,  to  exact  of  me,  an 
account  of  all  the  capitall,  or  notable  sentences  of  Judgement, 
which  passe  in  all  the  Civill  Courts  of  Justice  in  the  Countrey, 
unlesse  I  had  a  calling  to  sit  amongst  them. 

But  why  did  I  then  endeavour  in  my  Letter  to  shew  him  the 
sandiness  of  those  grounds  upon  which  he  had  banished  him- 
selfe, &c.  If  I  did  not  meane  to  declare  and  discuss  the  causes 
of  his  banishment. 

He  doth  very  well  and  wisely  to  expresse  the  Ground  upon 
which  I  said  he  banished  himself  with  an  &c.  For  he  knows 
that  if  I  had  related  my  whole  sentence  in  my  own  words,  he 
had  cut  himselfe  from  all  opportunitie  of  pleading  with  me  the 
causes  of  his  Civill  Banishment. 

My  words  are  plaine, — I  endeavour  to  shew  you  the  sandiness 


172  Roger  Williams 

of  those  grounds,  upon  which  you  have  banished  your  selfe  from 
the  fellowship  of  all  the  churches  in  these  Countreyes. 

It  is  one  thing  to  banish  ones  selfe  (or  to  be  banished)  out  of 
the  fellowship  of  all  the  churches  in  the  Countrey;  another  thing 
to  banish  ones  selfe  (or  to  be  banished)  out  of  the  Countrey. 
There  be  at  this  day  that  banish  (and  separate)  themselves 
from  all  the  Churches  in  the  Countrey,  and  yet  are  not  banished 
out  of  the  Countrey:  and  there  be  that  are  banished  out  of  the 
Countrey,  and  yet  are  not  banished  out  of  the  fellowship  of  all 
the  Churches  in  the  Countrey.  Himselfe  hath  separated  (and 
so  banished  himselfe)  from  the  fellowship  of  all  the  Churches  in 
the  world:  and  yet  he  hath  not  banished  himselfe  out  of  the 
world. 

But  though  it  be  impertinent  to  my  letter  to  discusse  the 
grounds  of  his  Civill  Bannishment;  yet  since  he  is  pleased  (by 
hook  or  crook)  to  draw  it  in,  I  referre  the  Reader  for  Answer 
to  a  full  Treatise  of  that  Argument,  penned  by  a  reverend  faith- 
full  Brother,  (the  Teacher  of  the  Church  at  Rocksbury;)1  and 
withall  as  I  have  touched  somewhat  of  it  above  in  Answer  to 
his  Preface,  so  I  shall  speak  a  word  or  two  more  unto  it  here. 

Whom  that  Eminent  Magistrate  was,  that  so  summed  up  the 
grounds  of  Mr.  Williams  his  Bannishment  in  those  foure  par- 
ticulars above  mentioned  Mr.  Williams  doth  wisely  conceale 
his  name,  lest  if  he  evere  named,  he  should  be  occasioned  to 
beare  witnesse  against  such  fraudulent  expression  of  the  par- 
ticulars; whereof  some  were  no  causes  of  his  Banishment  at  all, 
and  such  as  were  causes,  were  not  delivered  in  such  generall 
Tearmes.  For  in  universalibus  latet  Dolus.  It  is  evident  the 
two  latter  causes  which  he  giveth  of  his  Banishment  were  no 
causes  at  all,  as  he  expresseth  them.  There  are  many  knowne 
to  hold  both  these  Opinions.  That  it  is  not  lawfull  to  heare 
any  of  the  Ministers  of  the  Parish  Assemblies  in  England,  and 
that  the  Civill  Magistrates  power  Extends  only  to  the  bodies,  and 
goods,  and  outward  Estates  of  Men;  and  yet  they  are  tolerated 

xThe  reference  is,  beyond  doubt,  to  Rev.  John  Eliot,  although  no 
such  treatise  from  his  pen  is  now  extant. 


A  Political  Pioneer  173 

not  only  to  live  in  the  Commonwealth,  but  also  in  the  fellowship 
of  the  Churches. 

The  two  former,  though  they  be  not  so  much  noysed,  yet 
there  be  many,  if  not  most,  that  hold,  That  we  have  not  our 
Land,  mecrly  by  right  of  Patent  from  the  King,  but  that  the  Natives 
are  true  owners  of  all  that  they  posscsse,  or  improve.  Neither  doe 
I  know  any  amongst  us,  that  either  then  were,  or  now  are  of 
another  minde. 

And  as  for  the  other  Point;  That  it  is  not  lawful  to  call  a 
Wicked  Person  to  swearet  or  pray. 

Though  that  be  not  commonly  held,  yet  it  is  knowne  to  be 
held  of  some,  who  yet  are  tolerated  to  enjoy  both  Civill,  and 
Church  liberties  amongst  us. 

To  come  therefore  to  Particulars;  Two  things  there  were, 
which  (to  my  best  observation  and  remembrance)  caused  the 
sentence  of  his  Banishment;  and  two  other  fell  in,  that  hastened  it. 

1.  His  violent  and  tumultuous  carriage  against  the  Patent. 

By  the  Patent  it  is,  that  we  receved  allowance  from  the  King 
to  depart  his  Kingdome,  and  to  carry  our  goods  with  us,without 
offence  to  his  Officers,  and  without  paying  custome  to  himselfe. 

By  the  Patent,  certain  select  men  (as  Magistrates  and  Free- 
men) have  power  to  make  Lawes,  and  the  Magistrates  to  execute 
Justice,  and  Judgement  amongst  the  People,  according  to  such 
Lawes. 

By  the  Patent  we  have  Power  to  erect  such  a  Government 
of  the  Church,  as  is  most  agreeable  to  the  Word,  to  the  estate  of 
the  People,  and  to  the  gaining  of  Natives  (in  God's  time)  first 
to  Civility  and  then  to  Christianity. 

To  this  Authority  established  by  this  Patent,  English-men  doe 
readily  submit  themselves;  and  foraine  Plantations  (the  French, 
the  Dutch,  and  Swedish)  doe  willingly  transact  their  negotia- 
tions with  us,  as  with  a  Colony  established  by  the  Royall  Au- 
thority of  the  State  of  England. 

This  Patent  Mr.  Williams  publickly  and  vehemently  preached 
against,  as  containing  matter  of  falshood,  and  injustice:  Fals- 
hood  in  making  the  King  the  first  Christian  Prince  who  dis- 
covered these  parts — and  injustice  in  giving  the  Countrey  to  his 


174  Roger  Williams 

English  Subjects,  which  belonged  to  the  Native  Indians.  This 
therefore  he  pressed  upon  the  Magistrates  and  people,  to  be 
humbled  for  from  time  to  time  in  dayes  of  solemne  Humiliation; 
and  to  returne  the  Patent  back  againe  to  the  King.  It  was  an- 
swered to  him,  first,  That  it  was  neither  the  King's  intendement 
nor  the  English  Planters  to  take  possession  of  the  Countrey  by 
murther  of  the  Natives,  or  by  robbery;  but  either  to  take  posses- 
sion of  the  voyd  places  of  the  Countrey  by  the  Law  of  Nature, 
(for  Vacuum  Domicilium  cedit  occupanti:)  or  if  we  tooke  any 
Lands  from  the  Natives,  it  was  by  way  of  purchase,  and  free 
consent. 

A  little  before  our  coming,  God  had  by  pestilence,  and  other 
contageous  diseases,  swept  away  many  thousands  of  the  Natives, 
who  had  inhabited  the  Bay  of  Massachusets,  for  which  the 
Patent  was  granted.  Such  few  of  them  as  survived  were  glad  of 
the  coming  of  the  English,  who  might  preserve  them  from  the 
oppression  of  the  Nahargansets.  For  it  is  the  manner  of  the 
Natives,  the  stronger  Nations  to  oppresse  the  weaker. 

This  answer  did  not  satisfie  Mr.  Williams,  who  pleaded  the 
Natives,  though  they  did  not,  nor  could  subdue  the  Countrey. 
(but  left  it  vacuum  Domicilium)  yet  they  hunted  all  the  countrey 
over,  and  for  the  expedition  of  their  hunting  voyages,  they  burnt 
up  all  the  underwoods  in  the  Countrey,  once  or  twice  a  yeare, 
and  therefore  as  Noble  men  in  England  possessed  great  Parkes, 
and  the  King  great  Forrests  in  England  onely  for  their  game, 
and  no  man  might  lawfully  invade  their  Propriety:  So  might  the 
Natives  challenge  the  like  Propriety  of  the  Countrey  here. 

It  was  replied  unto  him.  1.  That  the  King,  and  Noble  men 
in  England,  as  they  possessed  greater  Territories  then  other 
men,  So  they  did  greater  service  to  Church  and  Common- wealth. 

2.  That  they  employed  their  Parkes  and  Forrests,  not  for 
hunting  onely,  but  for  timber,  and  for  the  nourishment  of  tame 
beasts,  as  well  as  wild,  and  also  for  habitation  to  sundry  Tenants. 

3.  That  our  Townes  here  did  not  disturb  the  huntings  of  the 
Natives,  but  did  rather  keepe  their  Game  fitter  for  their  taking; 
for  they  take  their  Deere  by  Traps,  and  not  by  Hounds. 

4.  That  if  they  complained  of  any  straites  wee  put  upon  them, 


A  Political  Pioneer  175 

wee  gave  satisfaction  in  some  payments  or  other,  to  their  content. 

5.  We  did  not  conceive  that  it  is  a  just  Title  to  so  vast  a  Con- 
tinent, to  make  no  other  improvement  of  millions  of  Acres  in  it, 
but  onely  to  burne  it  up  for  pastime. 

But  these  Answers  not  satisfying  him,  this  was  still  pressed 
by  him  as  a  Nationall  sinne,  to  hold  to  the  Patent,  yea,  and  a 
Nationall  duty  to  renounce  the  Patent:  which  to  have  done,  had 
subverted  the  fundamentall  State,  and  Government  of  the 
Countrey. 

II.  jThe  second  offence  which  procured  his  Banishment,  was 
occasioned  as  I  touched  before.  The  Magistrates  and  other 
members  of  the  Generall  Court,  upon  ntelligence  of  some 
Episcopall  and  malignant  practises  against  the  Countrey,  they 
made  an  order  of  Court  to  take  tryall  of  the  fidelity  of  the  People, 
(not  by  imposing  upon  them,  but)  by  offering  to  them  an  Oath 
of  Fidelitie:  that  in  case  any  should  refuse  to  take  it,  they  might 
not  betrust  them  with  place  of  publick  change  and  Command. 
This  Oath  when  it  came  abroad,  he  vehemently  withstood  it, 
and  diss  waded  sundry  from  it,  partly  because  it  was,  as  he  said, 
Christ's  Prerogative  to  have  his  Office  established  by  Oath: 
partly  because  an  Oath  was  a  part  of  God's  worship,  and  God's 
worship  was  not  to  be  put  upon  carnall  persons,  as  he  conceived 
many  of  the  People  to  be.  So  by  his  Tenent  neither  might 
Church-members,  nor  other  godly  men,  take  the  Oath,  because 
it  was  the  establishment  not  of  Christ,  but  of  mortall  men  in 
their  office;  nor  might  men  out  of  the  Church  take  it,  because  in 
his  eye  they  were  but  carnall.  So  the  Court  was  forced  to  desist 
from  that  proceeding;  which  practice  of  his  was  held  to  be  the 
more  dangerous,  because  it  tended  to  unsettle  all  the  Kingdomes 
and  Common-wealths  in  Europe. 

These  were  (as  I  tooke  it)  the  causes  of  his  Banishment:  two 
other  things  fell  in  upon  these  that  hastened  the  sentence.  The 
former  fell  out  thus:  The  Magistrates  discerning  by  the  former 
passages,  the  heady  and  turbulent  spirit  of  Mr.  Williams,  both 
they  and  others  advised  the  Church  of  Salem  not  to  call  him  to 
office  in  their  Church;  neverthelesse,  the  major  part  of  the  Church 
made  choice  of  him.     Soone  after,  when  the  Church  made  suit  to 


176  Roger  Williams 

the  Court  for  a  parcell  of  Land  adjoyning  to  them,  the  Court 
delayed  to  grant  their  Request  (as  hath  been  mentioned  before) 
because  the  Church  had  refused  to  harken  to  the  Magistrates, 
and  others  in  forbearing  the  choice  of  Mr.  Williams.  Whereupon 
Mr.  Williams  took  occasion  to  stirre  up  the  Church  to  joyne 
with  him  in  writing  Letters  of  Admonition  unto  all  the  Churches, 
whereof  those  Magistrates  were  members,  to  admonish  them  of 
their  open  transgression  of  the  Rule  of  Justice.  Which  Letters 
coming  to  the  severall  Churches,  provoked  the  Magistrates  to 
take  the  more  speedy  course  with  so  heady  and  violent  a  Spirit. 
But  to  prevent  his  sufferings,  (if  it  might  be)  it  was  mooved  by 
some  of  the  Elders,  that  themselves  might  have  liberty  (ac- 
cording to  the  Rule  of  Christ)  to  deale  with  him,  and  with  the 
Church  also  in  a  Church-way.  It  might  be  the  Church  might 
heare  us  and  he  the  Church;  which  being  consented  to  some  of 
our  churches  wrote  to  the  Church  of  Salem,  to  present  before 
them  the  offensive  Spirit  and  way  of  their  Officer,  (Mr.  Williams) 
both  in  Judgment  and  Practise.  The  Church  finally  began  to 
hearken  to  us,  and  accordingly  began  to  addresse  themselves  to 
the  healing  of  his  Spirit.  Which  he  discerning;  renounced 
communion  with  the  Church  of  Salem,  pretending  they  held 
communion  with  the  Churches  in  the  Bay,  and  the  Churches 
in  the  Bay  held  communion  with  the  Parish-Churches  in  Eng- 
land, because  they  suffered  their  members  to  heare  the  word 
amongst  them  in  England,  as  they  came  over  into  their  native 
Countrey.  He  then  refusing  to  resort  to  the  Publick  Assembly 
of  the  Church.  Soone  after  sundry  began  to  resort  to  his  Family, 
where  he  preached  to  them  on  the  Lord's  day.  But  this  carriage 
i  of  his  in  renouncing  the  Church  upon  such  an  occasion  and  with 
them  all  the  Churches  in  the  Countrey  and  the  spreading  of  his 
Leaven  to  sundry  that  resorted  to  him;  this  gave  the  Magis- 
trates the  more  cause  to  observe  the  heady  unrulelinesse  of  his 
Spirit,  and  the  incorrigiblenesse  thereof  by  any  Church-way, 
all  the  Churches  in  the  Countrey  being  then  renounced  by  him, 
And  this  was  the  other  occasion  which  hastened  the  Sentence 
of  his  Banishment,  upon  the  former  Grounds.1 


Publications  of  the  Narragansett  Club,  ii,  41,  et  seq. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

Roger  Williams  was  now  in  England,  as  we  have  al- 
ready seen,  engaged  in  the  attempt  to  procure  a  charter 
for  the  young  colony,  an  attempt  which  finally  proved 
successful.  He  had  set  sail  from  New  Amsterdam  in 
June  or  July,  1643.  Upon  reaching  the  Dutch  colony 
he  again  found  employment  for  his  services  as  a  pacificator. 
Governor  Winthrop  relates  the  incident: 

1643.  Mo.  4,  20.— There  fell  out  hot  wars  between  the  Dutch 
and  the  Indians  thereabout.  The  occasion  was  this.  An 
Indian  being  drunk  had  slain  an  old  Dutchman.  .  .  .  The 
Indians  also  of  Long  Island  took  part  with  their  neighbours 
upon  the  main,  and  as  the  Dutch  took  away  their  corn,  so  they 
fell  to  burning  the  Dutch  houses.  But  these,  by  the  mediation 
of  Mr.  Williams,  who  was  there  to  go  in  a  Dutch  ship  for  Eng- 
land, were  pacified  and  peace  re-established  between  the  Dutch 
and  them.1 

The  visit  of  Mr.  Williams  to  England  marks  the  be- 
ginning of  the  period  of  his  highest  literary  activity.  He 
was  already  engaged,  as'we  have  seen,  in  his  controver- 
sial correspondence  with  John  Cotton.  There  was  no 
intent,  probably,  in  the  minds  of  either,  to  make  any 
portion  of  this  correspondence  public.  Both  disclaimed 
responsibility  for  the  appearance  of  the  first  of  these 
letters  which  was  published;  but,  the  letter  having  been 
made  public, — doubtless  by  some  friend  of  Williams  in 
England,  to  whom  he  had  shown  it — the  correspondence 
was  continued  by  both  parties,  in  print,  •/•gjias  already 
been  disclosed. 


■Winthrop,  ii,  97. 


178  Roger  Williams 

Upon  the  voyage  Williams  had  employed  his  pen  in 
the  production  of  a  remarkable  work,  which  chiefly 
served  to  win  for  him  a  place  as  a  man  of  letters.  This 
was  his  Key  into  the  Languages  of  America,  a  work  which, 
in  the  original  edition,  is  now  excessively  rare  and  much 
sought  by  the  bibliophile.1  The  work  was  published  in 
London,  soon  after  his  arrival,  in  1643,  and  attracted 
instant  attention  from  philologists  and  other  scholars. 

Mr.  Williams  reached  England  at  the  time  when  the 
country  was  in  the  throes  of  civil  war.  The  Long  Parlia- 
ment was  in  session.  Prynne  had  been  released  from 
prison  and  had  passed  through  the  streets  of  London 
amid  the  plaudits  of  the  populace.  The  Earl  of  Strafford 
had  been  impeached  and  had  died  upon  the  scaffold, 
receiving  through  prison  bars,  the  blessing  of  Archbishop 
Laud,  as  he  passed  on  his  way  to  the  place  of  death.  The 
Star  Chamber  had  been  abolished;  Charles  had  fled 
from  London;  Edgehill  had  been  fought;  and  throughout 
the  country  rang  the  call  to  arms.  The  throne  of  Eng- 
land was  tottering  to  its  fall. 

'  For  more  than  a  year  Williams  remained  in  London, 
engaged  for  the  most  part  in  negotiating  with  the  members 
of  Parliament  for  the  charter  for  his  colony.  The  opera- 
tions of  the  Puritan  army  about  Newcastle  had  caused  a 
cessation,  entire  or  in  part,  of  the  mining  of  coal,  and  the 
people  of  London,  and  especially  the  poor,  were  suffering 
for  fuel.  Wood  was  scarce  and  dear,  and  Williams, 
seeing  the  great  need  of  the  poor  of  the  city,  occupied 
himself  in  the  amelioration  of  their  distress. 

In  one  of  his  later  writings  Mr.  Williams, — who  appears 
to  have  been  somewhat  fond  oi  recounting  his  deeds — 
alludes  to  this  episode  in  his  life. 


1  Reprinted  in  Pubs.  Nar.  Glub,  v,  1. 


A  Political  Pioneer  179 

It  is  not  unknown  to  many  witnesses  in  Plymmouth,  Salem  and 
Providence,  that  the  discussers  time  hath  not  been  spent  (though 
as  much  as  any  others  whosoever)  altogether  in  spiritual  labors 
and  publike  exercises  of  the  Word,  but  day  and  night,  at  home 
and  abroad,  on  the  land  and  water,  at  the  How,  at  the  Oare, 
for  bread;  yea  and  I  can  tell  that  when  these  discussions  were 
prepared  for  publike  in  London  his  time  was  eaten  up  in  atten- 
dance upon  the  service  of  Parliament  and  city  for  the  supply  of 
the  poor  of  the  city  with  wood  (during  the  stop  of  coals  from 
Newcasde,  and  the  mutinies  of  the  poor  for  firing)  'Tis  true, 
he  might  have  run  the  road  of  preferment,  as  well  in  Old  as 
New  England,  and  have  had  the  leasure  and  time  of  such  who 
eat  and  drink  with  the  drunken,  and  smite  with  the  fist  of  wicked- 
ness their  fellow  servants:  But  God  is  a  most  holy  witness  that 
these  meditations  were  fitted  for  publike  view  in  change  of 
rooms  and  corners,  yea  sometimes  (upon  occasion  of  travel  in 
the  country,  concerning  that  business  of  fuell)  in  variety  of 
strange  houses,  sometimes  in  the  fields,  in  the  midst  of  travels 
where  he  hath  been  forced  to  gather  and  scatter  his  loose  thought, 
and  papers.1 

Notwithstanding  that  his  time  was  so  fully  occupied 
in  this  manner,  Mr.  Williams  still  found  time,  as  he  has 
shown  us,  for  literary  work.  His  epistolary  controversy 
with  John  Cotton  was  closely  followed  by  a  far  more 
elaborate  discussion  with  the  same  antagonist.  There 
soon  appeared  from  his  pen,  a  book  entitled,  The  Bloudy 
Tenent  of  Persecution.  Three  years  later  a  reply  to  this 
appeared,  of  which  John  Cotton  was  the  author,  entitled: 
The  Bloudy  Tenant  Washed  and  Made  White  in  the 
Blood  of  the  Lamb.  In  1652  a  rejoinder  appeared,  from 
the  pen  of  Williams,  to  which  he  gave  the  title:  The 
Bloudy  Tenant  made  yet  more  Bloudy  through  Mr.  Cotton* s 
Attempt  to  Wash  it  White. 


lThe  Bloudy  Tenant  yet  more  Bloudy,— Pub.  Nar.  Club,  iv,  103. 


180  Roger  Williams 

In  the  first  named  of  these  works  Mr.  Williams  appears 
for  the  first  time,  distinctively  as  the  advocate  of  the 
doctrine  of  entire  liberty  of  conscience  in  religious  matters. 
But  this  is  not  all;  for  in  this  book  this  author  distinctly 
enunciates  a  doctrine  which,  even  in  that  day  of  popular 
uprising,  was  not  common;  a  doctrine  which  lay  dormant 
until,  one  hundred  and  thirty- two  years  later,  it  was  again 
enunciated,  and  upon  it  was  a  Great  Republic  founded. 

In  May,  1776,  the  Virginia  House  of  Delegates  adopted 
a  Declaration  of  Rights.  It  was  framed  by  James  Mad- 
ison, who,  later,  became  a  President  of  the  United  States. 
In  this  Declaration  Madison  wrote: 

All  power  is  vested  in  and  consequently  derived  from  the 
people;  magistrates  are  their  trustees  and  servants  and  at  all 
times  amenable  to  them.  Government  is,  or  ought  to  be,  in- 
stituted for  the  common  benefit  and  security  of  the  people, 
nation  or  community;  and  whenever  any  government  shall  be 
found  inadequate  or  contrary  to  these  purposes,  a  majority  of 
the  community  hath  an  indubitable,  unalienable  and  inde- 
feasible right  to  reform,  alter,  or  abolish  it,  in  s.uch  a  manner 
as  shall  be  judged  most  conducive  to  the  public  weal.1 

Two  months  after  the  adoption  of  this  bill  by  the 
British  Colony  of  Virginia,  Thomas  Jefferson  wrote,  and 
the  representatives  of  the  United  Colonies,  in  Congress 
assembled  declared: — 

We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self  evident,  that  all  men  are  created 
equal;  that  they  are  endowed  by  their  Creator  with  certain  in- 
alienable rights;  that  among  these  are  life,  liberty,  and  the  pur- 
suit of  happiness.  That  to  secure  these  rights,  governments  are 
instituted  among  men,  deriving  their  just  powers  from  the  con- 
sent of  the  governed;  that  whenever  any  form  of  government 
becomes  destructive  to  these  ends,  it  is  the  right  of  the  people 
to  alter  or  to  abolish  it,  and  to  institute  a  new  government, 

Bancroft,  iv,  417. 


A  Political  Pioneer  181 

laying  its  foundation  on  such  principles,  and  organizing  its 
powers  in  such  form,  as  to  them  shall  seem  most  likely  to  effect 
their   safety   and   happiness.1 

To  these  principles  George  the  Third  could  not  assent; 
no  doubt  they  were,  to  him,  as  novel  as  they  were  sub- 
versive of  order  and  of  royal  sovereignty.  And  yet  Roger 
Williams,  in  1644,  had  written,  in  his  work,  The  Bloudy 
Tenant  of  Persecution 

Whereas  they  say  that  the  Civill  Power  may  erect  and  es- 
tablish what  forme  of  civill  Government  may  seeme  in  wisdome 
most  meet,  I  acknowledge  the  proposition  to  be  most  true,  both 
in  itself  and  also  considered  with  the  end  of  it,  that  a  civill 
Government  is  an  Ordinance  of  God  to  conserve  the  civill  peace 
of  people,  so  farre  as  concernes  their  bodies  and  Goods  as  for- 
merly hath  beene  said. 

But  from  this  Grant  I  infer  (as  before  hath  been  touched) 
that  the  Soveraigne,  originall  and  foundation  of  Civill  power 
lies  in  the  People,  (whom  they  must  needs  meane  by  the  civill 
power  distinct  from  the  Government  set  up.)  And  if  so  that  a 
People  may  erect  and  establish  what  forme  of  Government 
seemes  to  them  most  meete  for  their  civill  condition:  it  is  evident 
that  such  governments  as  are  by  them  errected  and  established 
have  no  more  power,  nor  for  no  longer  time,  then  the  civill 
power,  or  people  consenting  and  agreeing  shall  betrust  them 
with.  This  is  cleere  not  only  in  Reason  but  in  the  experience 
of  all  Commonweales,  where  the  people  are  not  deprived  of 
their  natural  freedom  by  the  power  of  Tyrants.2 

This,  Mr.  Williams's  first  controversial  work,  is  divided 
into  two  parts.  The  first  is,  in  effect,  an  elaboration  of 
his  correspondence  with  John  Cotton,  although  it  does 
not  appear  directly  to  be  a  continuation  of  it.  The 
second  is  a  discussion  of  a  d  a  reply  to  a  pamphlet  en- 
titled A  Model  of  Church  and  Civil  Power,  the  author- 

lDeclaration  of  Independence. 

7The  Bloudy  Tenant  of  Persecution.— Pub.  Nar.  Club,  iii,  249,  250. 


182  Roger  Williams 

ship  of  which  Mr.  Williams  ascribes  to  John  Cotton,  but 
which  the  latter  afterward  disclaimed. 

The  first  part, — while  incidentally  a  continuation  of 
the  Williams-Cotton  epistolary  controversy, — is,  in  reality, 
an  examination  and  discussion  of  a  certain  writing,  which 
Cotton  declares  to  have  been  sent  to  him  by  Williams 
years  before  for  his  examination,  and  which  he  publicly 
discussed  and  criticised.  This  paper  appears  to  have 
been  received  by  Cotton,  at  or  about  the  time  of  the 
banishment  of  Williams,  which  circumstance  may  have 
produced  upon  the  mind  of  Cotton  the  impression  that 
it  had  been  sent  to  him  by  his  chief  antagonist.  At  all 
events,  John  Cotton  did  examine  and  publicly  criticise 
the  treatise,  which  is  said  to  have  been  written  by  a  non- 
conformist, confined  in  Newgate  prison.  It  is  this  criti- 
cism to  which  Williams  makes  elaborate  reply  in  the  first 
part  of  The  Bloudy  Tenent  of  Persecution. 

Mr.  Cotton  made  reply  in  his  treatise.  The  Bloudy 
Tenant  Washed  and  made  White  in  the  Blood  of  the  Lamb; 
which  appeared  three  years  after  the  publication  of  the 
book  to  which  it  was  intended  to  be  a  reply.  In  his 
opening  Mr.  Cotton  says: 

Mr.  Williams  sent  me,  about  a  dozen  years  agoe,  (as  I  remem- 
ber) a  letter,  penned  (as  he  wrote)  by  a  Prisoner  in  Newgate, 
touching  persecution  for  Conscience  sake,  and  intreated  my 
judgement  of  it  for  the  satisfaction  of  his  friend. 

This  letter  proves  to  have  been  a  portion  of  a  treatise, 
published  anonymously  in  1620,  under  the  title :  A  Most 
Humble  Supplication  of  the  King's  Majesty's  Loyal 
Subjects,  ready  to  testify  all  Civil  Obedience,  by  the 
oath  of  Allegiance,  or  otherwise,  and  that  of  Conscience; 
who  are  persecuted  {only  for  differing  in  Religion)  con- 
trary to  Divine  and  Human  Testimonies;  As  followeth: 

The  authorship  of  this  pamphlet  has  never  satisfac- 


A  Political  Pioneer  183 

torily  been  determined.  In  Mr.  Williams's  rejoinder  to 
Cotton's  reply, — published  in  1652,  under  the  title  The 
Bloudy  Tenent  made  yet  more  Bloudy  through  Mr.  Cotton's 
Attempt  to  Wash  it  White, — he  denies  having  sent  the 
fragment  of  the  Newgate  prisoner's  treatise  to  Mr.  Cotton 
for  his  judgment,  and  suggests  that  it  may  have  been 
sent  him  by  "One  Master  Hall  of  Roxbury."1  But 
this  question  does  not  appear  to  be  a  matter  of  moment. 
It  chiefly  concerns  us  to  know  that  Mr.  Cotton  made  pub- 
lic his  criticism  of  the  Newgate  prisoner's  argument,  and 
to  this  criticism  Williams,  some  years  after  Its  publication, 
makes  reply  in  The  Bloudy  Tenent  of  Persecution.  The 
literary  form  is  somewhat  quaint,  the  author  typifying 
the  genii  of  Truth  and  Peace,  discoursing.  The  portion 
which  discloses  the  manner  in  which  the  original  treatise 
was  written  and  made  public  is  of  curious  interest: — 

Truth.     Sweet  Peace,   what  hast  thou   there? 

Peace.  Arguments  against  persecution  for  cause  of  Con- 
science. 

Truth.     And  what  there? 

Peace.  An  Answer  to  such  Arguments  contrarily  main- 
taining such  persecution  for  cause  of  Conscience. 

Truth.  These  Arguments  against  such  persecution,  and  the 
Answer  pleading  for  it,  written,  (as  Love  hopes)  from  godly 
intentions,  hearts  and  hands,  yet  in  a  mervellous  different  style 
and  manner.  The  Arguments  against  persecution  in  milke, 
the  Answer  for  it  (as  I  may  say)  in  bloud. 

The  Authour  of  these  Arguments  (against  persecution)  (as  I 
have  beene  informed),  being  committed  by  some  then  in  power, 
close  prisoner  to  Newgate,  for  the  witnesse  of  some  truths  of 
Jesus,  and  having  not  the  use  of  Pen  and  Inke,  wrote  these 
Arguments  in  Milke,  in  sheets  of  Paper,  brought  to  him  by  the 
woman  his  Keeper,  from  a  friend  in  London,  as  the  stopples  of 
his  Milk  bottle. 


lThe  Bloudy  Tenent  yet  more  Bloudy,  Pub.  Nar.  Club,  iv,  54. 


184  Roger  Williams 

In  such  Paper  written  with  Milk  nothing  will  appeare,  but 
the  way  of  reading  it  by  fire  being  knowne  to  this  friend  who 
received  the  Papers,  he  transcribed  and  kept  together  the  Papers, 
although  the  Author  himselfe  could  not  correct  nor  view  what 
himself e  had  written.1 

In  this  treatise  Mr.  Williams,  in  a  vigorous  manner 
presents  the  ideas  of  liberty  in  matters  of  conscience,  a 
principle  which  was  by  no  means  a  discovery  of  his  own, 
but  only  a  vigorous  adaptation.  The  words  of  William 
of  Orange,  already  quoted,  sho^  that,  nearly  a  century 
before  these  controversial  books  saw  the  light  of  print, 
that  enlightened  monarch  had  firmly  planted  his  feet 
upon  a  platform  which  Williams,  in  his  day,  rebuilt  and 
re-established.  The  channel  through  which  this  grand  idea 
was  transmitted,  is  not  difficult  to  trace,  when  one  re- 
members the  great  hegira  of  Separatists  from  England  to 
Holland,  and  their  return  to  their  own  country,  when 
the  storm  cloud  seemed,  in  a  measure,  about  to  clear 
away.  In  his  treatise  to  which  this  book  is  a  reply,  Mr. 
Cotton  has  referred  to  a  certain  tract,  then  recently  pub- 
lished anonymously,  under  the  title :  A  Model  of  Church 
and  Civil  Power.  This  tract  Cotton  designated  as  "a 
treatise  sent  to  some  of  the  Brethren  late  of  Salem."  Its 
purpose  was,  evidently,  to  discuss  and  decide  the  question, 
then  prominently  appearing  before  the  forum  of  public 
opinion,  of  the  proper  boundary  to  be  drawn  between 
the  civil  and  the  ecclesiastical  power.  The  position 
assumed  by  the  writer  of  this  pamphlet — whom  Mr. 
Williams  erroneously  assumes  to  have  been  Cotton — 
is  attacked  by  Williams  in  his  argument,  the  same  liter- 
ary form  being  employed  as  in  the  earlier  portion  of  the 
work.  It  is  in  this  second  part  of  his  work,  in  which  occurs 
the  remarkable  parallelism  which  has   been   quoted. 

1The  Bloudy  Tenant  of  Persecution,  Pubs.  Nar.  Club,  iii,  61. 


A  Political  Pioneer  185 

In  this  work  which,  in  one  aspect,  is  the  most  impor- 
tant which  Williams  had  yet  written,  the  author  made  a 
distinct  advance  in  literary  style.  In  his  previous  writ- 
ings,— if  one  may  possibly  except  his  Key  into  the  Indian 
Languages  of  America ,  much  of  which  is  in  tabular  form 
— he  had  distinctly  failed  to  acquire  a  clear  and  succinct 
English  style.  Indeed,  his  meaning  is  often  obscure. 
We  have  evidence  that  this  was  the  case,  in  the  first  of 
his  formal  writings  of  which  we  have  any  record,  namely, 
his  attack  upon  the  patent,  written  while  he  was  in  Plym- 
outh and  afterward  offered  by  him  to  be  burnt,  by  the 
authorities  of  the  Bay.  Governor  Winthrop,  it  is  re- 
membered, characterized  it  as  "written  in  very  obscure 
and  implicative  phrases,"  which  "might  well  admit  of 
doubtful  interpretation."1  The  very  earliest  extant  of 
his  writings — the  two  letters  to  Lady  Barrington — are 
examples  of  this  peculiar  obscurity  of  diction,  for  which 
his  earlier  writings  are  distinguished. 

When  Roger  Williams  arrived  in  England  the  West- 
minster Assembly  was  in  session  in  London,  engaged  in 
the  preparation  of  the  confession  of  faith,  the  catechism 
and  other  forms  of  church  doctrine  and  discipline,  in 
accordance  with  the  principles  of  the  Church  of  Scotland. 
The  majority  of  the  members  of  the  Assembly  were  staunch 
Presbyterians;  but  there  was  among  them  a  considerable 
contingent  of  Independents.  In  the  early  part  of  the 
year  1644,  a  treatise  appeared,  being  set  forth  by  the  five 
Independent  leaders  in  the  Assembly.  This  was  entitled 
"An  Apologetical  Narration,  humbly  submitted  to  the 
Honorable  Houses  of  Parliament,  by  Thomas  Goodwin, 
Philip  Nye,  Sidrach  Simpson,  Jeremiah  Burroughs  and 
William  Bridge."     Replies  to  this  treatise  were  published 


'Winthrop,    i,    123. 


186  Roger  Williams 

by  Presbyterian  members.  This  controversy,  as  was 
natural,  attracted  the  attention  of  Mr.  Williams,  and  he 
prepared  a  treatise,  in  which  he  reviewed  the  discussion 
and  made  reply  to  the  contestants  upon  both  sides.  This 
treatise  was  entitled,  Queries  of  Highest  Consideration, 
and,  in  its  title  is  addressed  to  the  five  Independent  leaders 
by  name,  and  to  "the  Commissioners  from  the  General 
Assembly  (so  called)  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  upon 
occasion  of  their  late  printed  apologies  for  themselves 
and  their  Churches:  in  all  humble  Reverence  presented 
to  the  view  of  the  Right  Honorable  the  Houses  of  the  High 
Court  of  Parliament."  This  treatise  was  published 
anonymously,  but  the  authorship  has  been  fixed  upon 
Roger  Williams,  both  by  internal  evidence,  and  by  a 
passage  in  Cotton's  Answer  to  Master  Roger  Williams, 
his  Examination.  This  pamphlet  in  its  original  edition 
is  excessively  rare. 

In  the  Queries  Williams  again  takes  occasion  to  enforce 
his  doctrine,  already  shown  forth,  that  governments 
derive  their  just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed; 
and  by  the  profuse  use  of  references  to  the  Scriptures 
he  makes  a  strong  argument  showing  forth  the  unreason 
and  injustice  of  persecution  in  the  cause  of  religon. 

The  Queries  were  published  in  the  year  1644  while 
Williams  was  yet  in  England.  Not  long  after  his  return 
to  New  England  there  appeared  still  another  pamphlet, 
which,  although  also  published  without  name,  was  un- 
doubtedly the  work  of  Roger  Williams.  That  such  a 
pamphlet  was  written  by  him,  and  published  at  about 
this  time,  has  long  been  suspected,  but  it  was  not  until 
the  year  1881  that  an  uncatalogued  copy  was  by  accident 
discovered  in  the  British  Museum,  by  Dr.  H.  M.  Dexter. 
The  pamphlet  is  entitled,  Christenings  Make  not  Chris- 
tians; or  a  Briefe  Discourse  concerning  that  name  Heathen 


A  Political  Pioneer  187 

commonly  given  fo  the  Indians;  as  also  concerning  that 
great  point  of  their  Conversion.  This  treatise,  as  well  as 
the  Bloudy  Tenent,  the  Queries,  and  the  later  of  the  Cotton 
letters,  was  undoubtedly  written  while  Williams  was  in 
London,  his  literary  activity  being  thus  still  further  dis- 
played. In  its  subject  matter  it  deprecates  the  prevalent 
custom  of  applying  the  term  Heathen  to  the  North 
American  Indians,  for  the  assumed  reason  that  they  were 
naked  savages.  Quoting  learnedly  from  the  Hebrew 
and  from  the  Greek  he  shows  that  the  word  hjfiihen,  as 
used  in  the  Scriptures,  is  applied  to  the  Gentiles,  or  those 
nations  who  were  not  included  among  the  people  of  God. 
Hence,  he  argues,  those  to-day  who  have  accepted  Jesus 
Christ  are  to  be  regarded  as  the  people  of  God;  while 
all  others,  whether  civilized  or  barbarous,  are  properly 
heathen.  The  name  of  Christian,  he  concludes,  is  not 
then  properly  applied  to  those  who  have  merely  gained 
that  designation  by  ecclesiastical  form,  but  only  to  those 
to  whom  the  name  has  "come  by  true  regeneration  with- 
in." 

It  is  probable  that  the  Queries  appeared  while  Williams 
was  still  in  England,  for  they  were  published  in  February, 
1644,  while,  from  the  record  of  Governor  Winthrop,  we 
know  that  Williams  did  not  reach  Boston,  upon  his  return 
journey,  until  September  of  that  year.  The  last  named 
of  this  series  of  writings,  however,  undoubtedly  was  de- 
layed in  publication  until  after  the  author  had  left  the 
country.  This  circumstance  will  undoubtedly  explain 
the  large  number  of  uncorrected  typographical  errors 
which  occur  throughout  the  pamphlet. 

Roger  Williams  had  visited  England,  as  we  already 
know,  to  obtain  a  charter,  as  the  joint  agent  of  the  Colony 
of  Providence  Plantations  and  that  at  Aquidneck,  or 
Rhode  Island,  the  latter  including  the  towns  of  Ports- 


188  Roger  Williams 

mouth  and  Newport.  In  November,  1643,  the  Earl 
of  Warwick  was  appointed  Governor-in-chief  and  Lord 
High  Admiral  for  the  colonies,  and  was  also  made  chair- 
man of  the  committee  of  the  Long  Parliament,  to  which 
was  committed  the  charge  of  the  affairs  of  the  colonies, 
It  was  with  Warwick,  therefore,  that  Williams  conducted 
his  negotiations  for  the  charter,  which  was  granted  to 
the  Providence  Plantations  in  the  Narragansett  Bay  in 
New  England.  The  charter,  which  bore  date  March 
14,  164||  was  broad  in  its  terms,  and  granted 
to  the  aforesaid  Inhabitants  of  the  Towns  of  Providence,  Ports- 
mouth and  Newport  a  free  and  absolute  Charter  of  Incorpora- 
tion to  be  known  by  the  name  of  the  Incorporation  of  Providence 
Plantations  in  the  Narraganset  Bay  in  New  England,  together 
with  full  Power  and  Authority  to  rule  themselves  and  such  others 
as  shall  hereafter  inhabit  within  any  part  of  the  said  Tract  of 
land,  by  such  a  form  of  civil  government  as  by  voluntary  consent 
of  all  or  the  greater  part  of  them  they  shall  find  most  suitable  to 
their  estate  and  condition;  and  for  that  end  to  make  and  ordain 
such  civil  laws  and  constitution  and  to  inflict  such  punishments 
upon  transgressors  and  for  execution  thereof  so  to  place  and 
displace  officers  of  justice  as  they  or  the  greatest  part  of  them 
shall  be  free  consent  agree  to.1 

Having  succeeded  in  the  object  of  his  visit  Mr.  Will- 
iams at  once  set  out  upon  his  return  journey.  Upon 
his  voyage  to  England  he  had  set  sail  from  New  Amster- 
dam, now  New  York,  and  not  from  the  much  nearer  port 
of  Boston,  by  reason,  of  course,  of  the  act  of  exclusion 
from  the  Bay  Colony,  which  had  been  passed  against 
him.  Upon  the  return  voyage,  however,  he  was  desirous 
of  taking  passage  for  Boston;  and  that  the  authorities 
of  the  Bay  might  be  induced  to  allow  him  to  land,  and 
to  give  him  a  safe  conduct  through  their  domain,  he 


x#.  I.  Col  Rec,  i,  13. 


A  Political  Pioneer  189 

solicited  and  obtained  from  certain  influential  Puritans 
a  letter  to  the  governor  and  magistrates,  bespeaking  their 
friendly  conduct  toward  him.  This  letter,  aside  from  its 
intrinsic  interest,  stirs  a  curious  chord  of  memory  when 
we  read  its  signatures,  and  there  find  the  names  of  Bar- 
rington  and  Masham — names  so  closely  connected  with 
Mr.  Williams's  early  love  affair,  and  its  disastrous  con- 
clusion. 

To  the  Right  Worshipful  the  Governour  and  assis- 
tants AND  THE  REST  OF  OUR  WORTHY  FRIENDS  IN  THE  PLAN- 
TATION of  Massachusetts  Bay. 

Our  Much  Honour'd  Friends: 

Taking  notice,  some  of  us,  of  long  time,  of  Mr.  Roger  Williams, 
his  good  affections  and  conscience,  and  of  his  sufferings  by  our 
common  enemy  and  oppressors  of  God's  people,  the  prelates,  as 
also  of  his  great  industry  and  travels  in  his  printed  Indian  labours 
in  your  parts  (the  like  whereof  we  have  not  seen  extant  from  any 
part  of  America)  and  in  which  respect  it  hath  pleased  both  Houses 
of  Parliament  to  grant  unto  him  and  friends  with  him  a  free  and 
absolute  charter  of  civil  government  for  those  parts  of  his  abode, 
and  withal  sorrowfully  relenting,  that  amongst  good  men  (our 
friends)  driven  to  the  ends  of  the  world,  exercised  with  the  trials 
of  a  wilderness,  and  who  mutually  give  good  testimony  each  of 
the  other  (as  we  observe  you  do  of  him  and  he  abundantly  of  you) 
there  should  be  such  a  distance.  We  thought  it  fit,  upon  divers 
considerations,  to  profess  our  great  desires  of  both  your  utmost 
endeavours  of  nearer  closing  and  O^ready  expressing  those  good 
affections  (which  we  perceive  you  bear  to  each  other)  in  the 
actual  performance  of  all  friendly  offices.  The  rather  because 
of  those  bad  neighbors  you  are  lijcely  to  find  too  near  you  in 
Virginia,  and  the  unfriendly  visits  from  the  West  of  England 
and  from  Ireland.    That  howsoever  it  may  please  the  Most 


190  Roger  Williams 

High  to  shake  our  foundations,  yet  the  report  of  your  peaceable 
and  prosperous  plantations  may  be  some  refreshings  to 
Your  true  and  faithful  friends 
Cor.  Holland  Robert  Harley 

John  Blackistow  John  Gurdon 

Isaac  Pennington  Northumberland 

Miles  Corbett  P.  Wharton 

Oliver  St.  John  Tho.  Barrington 

Gilbert  Pickering        William  Masham1 

Governor  Winthrop  thus  chronicled  the  arrival  of  Mr. 
Williams  and  his  application  for  permission  to  pass: 

1644,  7,  17  [Sept.  17] — The  Lady  La  Tour  arrived  here  from 
London,  in  a  ship  commanded  by  Captain  Bayley  ....  Here 
arrived  also  Mr.  Roger  Williams  of  Providence  and  with  him 
two  or  three  families.  He  brought  with  him  a  letter  from  divers 
lords  and  others  of  the  parliament,  the  copy  whereof  ensueth.2 

The  application  of  Mr.  Williams,  reinforced,  as  it 
was,  with  the  presentation  of  this  letter, — for  permission 
to  pass  through  the  territory  of  the  Bay  Colony,  was  grant- 
ed by  the  magistrates,  after  some  demur  and  hesitation. 
He,  in  all  probability,  made  the  journey  on  foot,  from 
Boston  to  some  point  on  the  Blackstone  river,  down  which 
stream  he  passed  in  a  canoe.  The  news  of  his  arrival 
had,  by  some  means,  preceded  him,  and  he  was  met,  so 
says  tradition,  by  a  delegation  of  citizens  of  Providence, 
in  a  fleet  of  canoes,  and  escorted  to  the  town.  This  his- 
toric episode  has  been  made  the  subject  of  an  admirable 
mural  painting,  upon  the  wall  of  the  main  stairway  of 
the  Providence  County  Court  House,  in  Providence. 

In  compensation  for  his  services  and  expenses  in  pro- 
curing the  charter,  the  colony  voted  to  pay  Mr.  Williams 


hazard's  Historical  Collections,  i,  160. 
2Winthrop,  ii,  193. 


A  Political  Pioneer  191 

the  sum  of  one  hundred  pounds,  twenty  pounds  to  be 
apportioned  to  Providence,  thirty  pounds  to  Portsmouth 
and  fifty  pounds  to  Newport.  The  amount  was  not, 
however,  promptly  paid,  and  it  was  not  finally  collected 
by  Mr.  Williams  without  some  delay  and  trouble. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

For  the  two  or  three  years  next  following  Mr.  Will- 
iams's return  from  England,  he  seems  to  have  bee*  well 
occupied  in  pacifying  his  Indian  friends,  who  appeared 
to  be  of  a  warlike  mind,  and  in  keeping  the  other  Eaglish 
colonies  informed  of  contemplated  movements.  In  the 
year  immediately  following  his  return  the  peace  made 
the  previous  year  seemed  to  be  upon  the  point  of  rupture. 
A  meeting  of  the  commissioners  — a  confederacy  having 
been  formed  in  1644, — was  called  at  Boston,  on  the 
twenty-eighth  day  of  July,  1645.  The  Narragansetts 
had  attacked  the  Mohegans  and  having  gained  a  victory 
over  them,  had  succeeded  in  winning  the  Mohawks  to  an 
alliance.  The  Connecticut  colonists  sent  aid  to  Uncas, 
sachem  of  the  Mohegans,  until  such  time  as  the  com- 
missioners should  be  able  to  meet  and  confer  upon  the 
situation. 

The  commissioners  despatched  three  messengers  to 
confer  with  the  Narragansetts  and  the  Mohegans,  to 
request  both  tribes  to  send  delegates  to  a  peace  confer- 
ence; failing  in  which,  the  messengers  were  instructed 
to  intimate  that  the  English  were  disposed  to  send  aid 
to  Uncas,  and  to  inquire  whether  the  Narragansetts 
were  inclined  to  maintain  the  established  peace,  or  to 
attack  the  English. 

The  messengers  returned  bearing  an  evasive  and  some- 
what threatening  reply  from  the  Narragansetts.  They 
likewise  brought  with  them  a  letter  from  Mr.  Williams, 
"wherin  he  assures  them  that  ye  warr  would  presenly 
breake  forth  &  ye  whole  country  would  be  all  of  a  flame. 
And  yt  the  sachems  of  yt  Narigansets  had  concluded  a 


A  Political  Pioneer  193 

newtrality  with  ye  English  of  Providence  and  those  of 
Aquidnett  Hand."1 

That  the  colonies  at  the  Providence  Plantations  and 
on  the  Island  of  Rhode  Island  were  at  liberty  to  conclude 
a  neutrality,  while  these  warlike  preparations  were  in 
progress  and  while  the  other  colonies  were  threatened, 
is  explained  in  the  fact  of  Williams's  remarkable  friend- 
ship with  the  Indians;  and  in  the  further  fact  that  the 
Narragansett  Bay  colonies,  not  having  been  admitted  to 
the  confederation  of  1644,  were  at  entire  liberty  to  enter 
into  an  engagement  of  neutrality  or,  if  they  should  choose, 
make  an  alliance  with  the  Indian  tribes.  That  war  was 
averted  at  this  time,  and  that  the  confederacy  succeeded 
in  making  a  treaty  of  peace  with  the  Narragansetts  and 
the  Niantics  is,  perhaps,  in  a  considerable  measure  due 
to  the  timely  information  sent  by  Mr.  Williams  and  to 
his  potent  influence  with  his  Indian  friends.  The  treaty 
of  peace  thus  concluded,  called  for  the  payment  to  the 
Bay  Colony  by  the  Narragansetts  of  an  immense  amount 
of  wampum,  which  was  not  promptly  paid.  Three 
years  later,  it  became  known  that  the  Narragansetts  and 
the  Niantics  were  not  faithfully  keeping  their  engagement 
not  to  make  war  upon  the  Mohegans.  This  coming  to 
the  knowledge  of  the  Bay,  and  it  further  appearing  that 
fully  one  thousand  fathoms  of  the  wampum  had  not  been 
delivered,  it  was  determined  to  send  a  deputation  to  the 
Narragansetts  to  remonstrate  concerning  these  matters. 
Here  again  was  an  opportunity  for  the  exercise  of  Will- 
iams's good  offices  and  he  accompanied  the  deputation 
in  the  capacity  of  interpreter,  and  succeeded  in  bringing 
the  matter  to  a  successful  and  satisfactory  termination.3 


•Bradford,  515. 
aWinthrop,  ii,  333. 


194  Roger  Williams 

But,  although  Mr.  Williams  was  invariably  successful 
in  his  dealings  with  the  Indians  and  was  admirable  as  a 
pacificator  with  them,  with  his  own  people  of  the  colony 
he  was  not  equally  successful.  For  years  the  settlements 
were  torn  with  feuds,  divisions,  contentions  and  dissen- 
sions. There  was  a  jealousy  between  the  people  of  the 
Plantations  and  those  of  Aquidneck,  a  jealousy,  the  traces 
of  which  remain  until  the  present  day. 

These  dissensions  and  feuds  were  not  confined  to  this 
phase,  but  permeated  each  settlement  and  were  often 
individual  in  their  character.  They  began  with  the 
Verin  episode  already  narrated,  and  continued  through 
many  years  in  a  variety  of  forms.  Mr.  Williams  himself 
was  not  exempt  and,  as  we  shall  see,  was,  a  few  years 
later  than  the  present  point  in  our  study,  fiercely  attacked 
by  a  member  of  the  original  party  and  forced  to  make  a 
formal  defence  to  his  charges.  It  is,  perhaps,  by  reason 
of  these  constant  contentions  that  a  delay  of  three  years 
occurred  between  the  reception  of  the  charter  and  the 
organization  of  the  colony  under  it. 

So  earnest  was  Mr.  Williams  in  his  desire  to  quell  these 
disturbances,  and  bring  the  various  discordant  elements 
in  the  colony  into  harmonious  action,  that  he,  in  connec- 
tion with  his  brother  Robert  and  other  prominent  men  of 
the  colony,  framed  and  signed  an  agreement,  engaging 
to  "carry  themselves  [ourselves]  in  words  and  behaviour 
so  moderately  and  orderly  as  the  cause  shall  permit,  and 
if  in  case  any  shall  fly  out  in  provoking,  scurrilous, 
or  exorbitant  speeches  or  unsuitable  behaviour,  that  he 
or  they  so  doing  shall  be  publicly  declared,  branded  and 
noted  upon  record  to  be  a  common  violator  and  disturber 
of  the  Union,  peace  and  liberties  of  this  plantation." 
This  expedient  does  not  appear  to  have  produced  the  hoped 
for  effect,  for  a  few  years  later,  as  we  shall  find,  Sir  Henry 


A  Political  Pioneer  195 

Vane,  learning  doubtless  from  Williams  of  the  extent  of 
these  dissensions,  wrote  to  the  people  of  the  colony  a 
letter  exhorting  them  to  peacefulness  and  love  toward 
one  another. 

Roger  Williams,  however,  appears  to  have  commanded 
the  respect  of  the  people,  although  he  was  unable  to  quell 
their  turbulence.  He  was  elected  to  the  office  of  presi- 
dent 's  assistant  for  Providence,  at  the  organization  of  the 
colony  under  the  charter,  and  in  1649  he  was  made  deputy 
president  of  the  colony.  In  the  summer  of  1651 — for 
the  relation  of  some  features  of  Rhode  Island  history 
seems  unavoidable —  Mr.  Coddington  of  Newport  visited 
England  and  succeeded  in  obtaining  for  himself  a  com- 
mission as  governor  for  life  of  the  Aquidneck  settlements. 
This  virtually  abrogated  the  charter  of  the  Providence 
Plantations,  and  again  Mr.  Williams  was  deputized  to 
proceed  to  England,  in  the  interest  of  the  colony.  At 
the  same  time  John  Clarke  of  Newport  was  dispatched 
to  England,  in  behalf  of  the  Aquidneck  colonists,  to  pro- 
cure the  repeal  of  Coddington's  commission.  Incident- 
ally, also,  Williams  was  commissioned  to  come  to  such 
an  understanding  with  Parliament  as  should  settle  a  dis- 
pute which  had  for  some  time  existed  between  Providence 
Plantations  and  the  Bay,  concerning  the  true  owership 
of  the  town  of  Warwick. 

Desirous  of  embarking,  on  this  journey,  at  the  port  of 
Boston,  and  of  landing  there  upon  his  return,  Mr.  Williams 
addressed  a  petition  to  the  General  Court  of  the  Bay, 
begging  their  permission  to  pass  through  their  territory 
for  that  purpose.  The  petition  modestly  recounts  his 
services  in  the  pacification  of  the  Indians,  and  urges 
these  as  arguments  for  the  granting  of  the  petition. 


196  Roger  Williams 

Roger  Williams  to  the  General  Court. 

To  the  honored  General  Court  of  the  Massachusetts  Colony, 
now  assembled  at  Boston. 

October,  1651. 

The  Humble  Petition  of  Roger  Williams. 

Although  it  be  true  yet  it  pleased  this  honored  Government 
now  many  years  since  to  pass  a  sentence  of  banishment  upon  me, 
which  sentence  and  the  consequences  (bitter  afflictions  and 
miseries,  losses,  sorrows  and  hardships)  I  have  humbly  desired 
(through  the  help  of  the  most  High)  to  endure  with  a  quiet  and 
patient  mind. 

Yet,  may  it  please  you  favorably  to  remember,  that  at  my 
last  arrival  from  my  native  country,  I  presented  this  honored 
government  with  letters  from  many  of  your  noble  and  honorable 
friends,  then  of  the  Parliament  of  England,  lamenting  of  differ- 
ences and  persuading  moderation,  if  not  reconcilement  and  paci- 
fication. 

Please  you  to  remember  that  ever  since  the  time  of  my  exile 
I  have  been  (through  God's  help)  a  professed  and  known  servant 
to  this  colony  and  all  the  colonies  of  the  English  in  peace  and 
war,  so  that  scarce  a  week  hath  passed  but  some  way  or  other 
I  have  been  used  as  instrumental  to  the  peace  and  spreading  of 
the  English  plantings  in  this  country. 

In  the  Pequod  troubles,  receiving  letters  from  this  Govern- 
ment, I  hazarded  my  life  into  extreme  dangers,  by  laboring  to 
prevent  the  league  between  the  Pequods  and  the  Narragansetts, 
and  to  work  a  league  between  the  English  and  the  Narragansetts, 
which  work  as  an  agent  from  this  colony  and  all  the  English  in 
the  land,  I  (through  help  from  God)  effected.  The  fruit  thereof 
(as  our  much  honored  Mr.  Winthrop,  deceased,  wrote  to  me) 
hath  been  peace  to  the  English  ever  since. 

At  present  let  me  not  offend  you  in  saying  that  I  pass  not  only 
as  a  private  passenger,  but  as  a  messenger  and  agent  to  the  High 
Court  of  the  Parliament  of  England,  in  the  name  of  my  neigh- 


A  Political  Pioneer  197 

bors,  the  English,  occasioned  by  the  late  grant  obtained  by  Mr. 
Coddington  for  Rhode  Island. 

In  all  which  respects  I  humbly  pray,  yet  (notwithstanding  the 
former  sentence)  I  may  find  yet  civility  and  courtesy  from  the 
English  of  the  Massachusetts  Colony,  yet  I  (inoffensively  be- 
having myself)  may  inoffensively  and  without  molestation,  pass 
through  your  jurisdiction  as  a  stranger  for  a  night,  to  the  ship 
and  so  (if  God  so  please)  may  land  again,  from  the  land  of  our 
nativity. 

But  some  may  say,  you  are  an  opposite  to  the  way  in  worship, 
and  besides  you  can  go  as  an  adversary,  with  complaints  against 
us  for  the  town  of  Warwick. 

To  the  first,  I  humbly  pray  it  may  be  remembered,  that  not 
only  I,  but  the  many  millions  of  millions  of  our  Father  Adam's 
children,  (which  are  as  the  sand  upon  the  seashore)  are  not  of 
your  persuasion,  yea  and  many  thousands  of  the  poor  remnant 
of  God's  children  abroad,  are  at  lamentable  difference  with 
you  and  themselves  as  to  the  worship  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus. 
I  add,  who  knows  but  upon  humble  and  Christian  debatements 
and  agitations,  not  only  I,  but  your  honored  selves,  may  yet  see 
cause  to  put  our  mouths  in  the  dust  together,  as  touching  the 
present  controversies  about  the  Christian  worship. 

To  the  second  I  humbly  and  truly  answer,  yet  if  it  please 
this  honored  Court  to  depute  two  or  three  of  yourselves  to  receive 
and  debate  mine  answer  to  this  objection,  I  hope  (through 
God's  assistance)  to  make  it  apparent,  yet  I  go  not  as  an  enemy 
to  the  Massachusetts,  but  as  a  professed  instrument  of  a  peace- 
able and  honorable  end  of  the  sad  controversy,  and  as  a  humble 
servant,  rather  than  an  enemy,  to  this  honored  Government  of 
the  Massachusetts. 

I  am  unworthy,  yet  desire  to  be 

Your  humble  servant, 

Roger  Williams.1 

The  records  of  the  General  Court  of  the  Bay,  curiously 


lMau.  Hist.  Soc.  Coll.,  iv,  471;  et  vide.  Pubs.  Nar.  Club,  vi,  231 


198  Roger  Williams 

enough  contain  no  mention  of  this  petition  of  Williams 
for  safe  conduct,  but  that  it  was  granted  is  made  certain 
from  this  appended  note: 

The  Deputies  think  meet  to  grant  this  petition,  viz:  liberty 
to  Mr.  Williams  to  pass  through  our  jurisdiction  to  England, 
provided  he  carry  himself  inoffensively  according  to  his  pro- 
mise with  reference  to  the  consent  of  our  honored  magistrates. 

William  Torrey,  Clerk. 

Williams  and  Clarke  sailed  together  from  Boston  in 
November,  1651,  and  arrived  in  London  early  in  1652. 
Here  Williams  remained  two  years,  and  they  seem  to 
have  been  with  him  as  busy  years  as  those  which  he 
formerly  passed  in  England.  In  1647  Mr.  Cotton  had 
published  his  reply  to  The  Bloudy  Tenent  of  Persecu- 
tion, under  the  title,  as  already  noted,  The  Bloudy  Ten- 
ent Washed  and  made  White  in  the  Blood  of  the  Lamb. 
Five  years  had  passed  since  this  treatise  appeared  from 
the  press  of  a  London  publishing  house,  but  as  yet  no 
rejoinder  from  Mr.  Williams  had  appeared.  Whether 
he  had  little  by  little,  during  these  years,  been  prepar- 
ing his  reply,  or  whether  the  leisure  of  the  voyage  offered 
the  long  desired  opportunity,  cannot  be  determined,  al- 
though there  is  some  evidence  that  the  first  was  the  case. 
At  all  events,  during  the  first  year  of  his  visit  in  England, 
his  rejoinder  appeared.  It  was  entitled,  The  Bloudy 
Tenent  made  yet  more  Bloudy  through  Mr.  Cotton's  attempt 
to  Wash  it  White.  Mr.  Cotton's  reply  to  The  Bloudy 
Tenent  which  had  been  published,  as  stated,  in  1647, 
was  a  careful  criticism  of  that  treatise,  each  chapter 
being  considered  in  proper  consecutive  order.  He  made 
no  reply  to  Mr.  Williams's  criticism  of  The  Model  of 
Church  and  Civil  Power,  disclaiming  the  authorship  of, 
or  any  responsibility  for,  that  pamphlet.     In  April,  1652, 


A  Political  Pioneer  199 

not  long  after  Williams's  second  arrival  in  England,  two 
treatises  from  his  pen  were  published.  These  were 
entitled:  Experiments  of  Spiritual  Life  and  Health,  and 
The  Hireling  Ministry  None  of  Christ's.  The  Bloudy 
Tenent  yet  more  Bloudy  had  probably  been  written  before 
these  pamphlets,  but  they  preceded  it  in  time  of  publica- 
tion. 

In  this  last  named  work  the  author  opens  with  three 
distinct  introductions,  or  prefaces.  The  first  of  these  is 
addressed,  "To  the  High  Court  of  Parliament";  the 
second,  "To  the  Several  Respective  Generall  Courts, 
especially  that  of  the  Massachusetts  in  New  England"; 
the  third,  "To  the  Merciful  and  Compassionate  Reader." 
In  the  second  of  these  introductions,  in  his  somewhat 
diffuse  manner,  he  summarizes  thus  the  contents  of  his 
work: 

It  is  a  second  Conference  of  Peace  and  Truth,  an  examination 
of  the  worthily  honoured  and  beloved  Mr.  Cotton's  Reply  to  a 
former  Conference  and  Treatise  of  this  Subject:  And  although 
it  concern  all  Nations,  which  have  persecuted  and  shed  the 
Blood  of  Jesus,  the  Bloudie  Roman  Empire,  with  all  the  savage 
Lyons  thereof,  Emperours  and  Popes,  the  bloudie  monarchies 
of  Spain  and  France  and  the  rest  of  Europe's  Kingdoms  and 
States,  (which  under  their  several  Vizards  and  Pretences  of 
Service  to  God,  have  in  so  many  thousands  of  his  Servants 
Murthered  so  many  thousand  times  over,  his  dear  Son)  yea 
although  it  concern  that  Bloudy  Turkish  monarchy,  and  all 
the  Nations  of  the  World  who  practice  violence  to  the  Conscience 
of  any  Christian,  or  Anti-Christian,  Jews  or  Pagans;  yet  it  con- 
cerns your  selves  (which  all  due  respect  otherwise  be  it  spoken) 
(in  some  more  eminent  degrees;  Partly  as  so  many  of 
yours  of  chief  note  (beside  Mr.  Cotton)  are  engaged  in  it;  partly 
as  N.  England  (in  respect  of  Spiritual  and  Civil  State) 
professeth  to  draw  nearer  to  Christ  Jesus  then  other  States  and 
Churches,   and  partly  in  N.  England  is  believed  to  hold  and 


200  Roger  Williams 

practice  such  a  Bloudy  Doctrine,  notwithstanding  Mr.  Cotton's 
Vails  and  Pretences  of  not  persecuting  men  for  conscience,  but 
punishing  them  only  for  sinning  against  conscience;  and  of  but 
so  and  so,  not  persecuting  but  punishing  Hereticks,  Blasphe- 
mers, Idolators,  Seducers,    &c. 

This  explanation,  though  not  a  little  obscure  in  phrase- 
ology, perhaps  sufficiently  describes  the  subject  matter 
of  this  final  treatise  of  this  controversial  series.  The 
discussion,  which  ceased  at  this  point,  had  been  con- 
ducted with  courtesy  and  with  an  absence  of  bitter  person- 
alities. The  final  treatise  closes  with  an  Appendix, 
which  the  author  addresses  "To  the  Cleargie  of  the  foure 
great  Parties  (professing  the  name  of  Christ  Jesus)  in 
England,  Scotland  and  Ireland,  viz.  The  Popish,  Pre- 
laticall,  Presbyterian  and  Independent."  In  this  he 
severely  scores  the  churches  and  clergy  who  were  parties 
to  the  quadrangular  religious  struggle  of  the  century. 
He  says, 

You  foure  have  torn  the  seamless  coate  of  the  Son  of 
God  into  foure  pieces,  and  (to  say  nothing  of  former 
Times  and  Tearings)  you  foure  have  tome  the  three 
Nations  into  thousands  of  pieces  and  Distractions.  The 
two  former  of  you,  the  Popish  and  (Protestant)  Prelaticall 
are  Brethren;  so  are  the  latter,  the  Presbyterian  and 
Independent.  But,  oh,  how  Rara  est,  &c!  What  Concord, 
what  Love,  what  pitie  hath  ever  yet  appeared  amongst  you,  when 
the  providence  of  the  Most  High  and  onely  Wise  hath  granted 
you  your  Pattents  of  mutual  and  successive  Dominion  and  pre- 
cedence. Just  like  two  men,  whom  I  have  knowne  breake  out 
to  Blowes  and  Wrastling,  so  have  the  Protestant  Bishops  fought 
and  wrastled  with  the  Popish,  and  the  Popish  with  the  Pro- 
testant! The  Presbyterian  with  the  Independent  and  the  Inde- 
pendent with  the  Presbyterian!  And  our  Chronicles  and  Ex- 
periences have  told  this  Nation  and  the  World,  how  he  whose 


A  Political  Pioneer  201 

Turne  it  is  to  be  brought  under,  hath  ever  felt  an  heavie  wrath- 
full  hand  of  an  unbrotherly  and  unchristian  persecutor. 

What  more  keen  and  scathing  denunciation  can  be 
found,  than  this,  which  accuses  the  churches  of  conduct, 
the  equivalent  of  an  act,  from  which  the  very  executioners 
of  The  Christ  themselves  shrank! 

Williams  reached  London  at  the  time  when  the  future 
author  of  Paradise  Lost  was  at  the  height  of  his  political 
fame.  Charles  I  had  been  bebeaded  two  years  before, 
and  Milton,  as  a  reward  for  a  pamphlet  written  in  defence 
of  the  Commonwealth  had  been  appointed  Secretary 
for  Foreign  Tongues  to  the  Council.  He  had  written 
his  Eikonoklastes,  or  Image  Breaker  y  in  reply  to  the  famous 
Eikon  Basilike.  Before  his  appointment  he  had  written 
and  published  a  half  dozen  of  pamphlets,  directed  against 
the  prelacy,  the  last  of  which  was  his  still  remembered 
Areopagetica.  At  this  time  Salmasius,  a  Dutch  professor, 
published  a  defence  of  Charles  I,  and  the  Council  of 
State  applied  to  Milton  to  write  a  reply.  It  was  at  this 
point  of  time,  as  seems  probable,  that  Williams  formed 
his  intimacy  with  Milton.  In  a  letter  to  John  Winthrop, 
written  after  Williams's  return  to  New  England,  in  the 
summer  of  1654,  the  latter  wrote: 

The  Secretary  of  the  Council  (Mr.  Milton)  for  my  Dutch  I 
read  him,  read  me  many  more  languages.1 

From  this  passage  it  may  be  inferred  that  Williams, 
having  naturally  formed  the  acquaintance  of  the  Council's 
secretary,  and  being  familiar  with  the  Dutch  language, 
translated  for  Milton  the  treatise  of  Salmasius.  By  what 
manner  Williams  himself  learned  Dutch  it  is  impossible 
to  determine  with  certainty;  but  yet  we  know  that,  before 
his  emigration  to  New  England,  he  lived  in  Essex,  which 
shire  borders  upon  the  North  Sea,  over  against  Holland; 

•Pubs.  Nar.  Club,  vi,  262. 


202  Roger  Williams 

and  in  Essex  very  many  of  the  returned  Anabaptists  and 
other  non-conformists,  who  had  before  time  fled  to  Holland 
made  their  homes.  It  is  not  unlikely  that  from  these  re- 
turned fugitives,  Williams  acquired  the  tongue  which 
they  themselves  had  learned,  during  their  residence 
among  the  Dutch.  Williams  had  read]  thoroughly  the 
writings  of  Milton,  and  had  greatly  admired  them,  except 
possibly  his  Doctrine  and  Discipline  of  Divorce.  This 
last  named  pamphlet,  written  when  Milton  was  vexed  at 
his  wife's  desertion,  was  received  with  horror  by  the 
Episcopal  party  in  England  and  was  deprecated  by  many 
of  his  friends. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  Williams  bethought  him  of 
his  early  days  in  England  and  especially  of  his  benefactor, 
Sir  Edward  Coke.  The  great  lawyer  had  died  two  years 
after  Williams's  emigration  to  New  England,  now  twenty 
years  past.  He  remembered,  however,  Coke's  daughter 
Anne,  who  was  now  Mrs.  Sadlier,  residing  at  Stondon, 
Puckridge.  To  her  he  addressed  a  letter,  dated,  "At 
my  lodgings  near  St.  Martin's,  at  Mr.  Davis  his  house, 
at  the  sign  of  the  Swan."  This  letter  was  probably 
written  in  the  spring  or  summer  of  1652,  for  in  it  he  in- 
forms Mrs.  Sadlier  of  his  arrival  in  England  during  "this 
last  winter,"  "being  sent  over  from  some  parts  of  New 
England  with  some  addresses  to  the  Parliament."  He 
alludes  in  a  loving  and  grateful  manner  to  her  late  father; 
and  offers  his  apologies  for  not  paying  his  respects  in 
person,  urging  as  his  excuse  his  "very  great  business," 
and  his  "very  great  straits  of  time."  He  then  proceeds 
to  relate  something  of  his  life's  experiences  in  the  score 
of  years  that  have  passed.  "It  hath  pleased  the  Most 
High,"  he  writes,  "to  carry  me  on  eagles'  wings,  through 
mighty  labors,  mighty  hazards,  mighty  sufferings,  and  to 
vouchsafe  to  use  so  base  an  instrument — as  I  humbly 


TA  Political  Pioneer  203 

hope — to  glorify  himself,  in  many  of  my  trials  and  suffer- 
ings, both  among  the  English  and  barbarians."  Con- 
tinuing^ speaks  of  his  written  works — which  he  designates 
as  "the  two-egded  sword  of  God's  spirit" — and  of  his 
public  appearances  "in  some  contests  against  the  ministers 
of  Old  and  New  England,  as  touching  the  true  ministry 
of  Christ  and  the  soul  freedoms  of  the  people."  His 
writings,  he  informs  her,  are  chiefly  controversial,  and 
hence  he  refrains  from  sending  her  copies  of  any  of  them, 
lest  they  might  fail  to  interest  her.  He,  however,  begs 
her  acceptance  of  a  publication  which  he  calls  "a  plain 
and  peaceable  discourse"  of  his  own  personal  experi- 
ments, written  to  his  wife,  during  her  severe  illness,  while 
he  was  absent  from  home  among  the  Indians. 

Mrs.  Sadlier,  in  a  rather  curt  note  of  reply  declines  his 
gift  and  returns  it  unread,  explaining  that  she  had  "given 
over  reading  many  books,"  and  was  devoting  herself 
exclusively  to  the  perusal  of  "the  bible,  the  late  King's 
book,  [Eikon  Basilike]  Hooker's  Ecclesiastical  Polity, 
Reverend  Bishop  Andrew's  Sermons,  with  his  other  di- 
vine meditations,  Dr.  Jer.  Taylor's  works  and  Dr.  Tho. 
Jackson  upon  the  Creed."  These  she  commended  to 
his  reading,  saying  that  she  feared  that  his  "new  lights, 
that  are  so  much  cried  up  will  prove  but  dark  lanterns." 

Williams  was  evidently  a  little  piqued  at  the  defiant 
attitude,  or  perhaps  regarded  her  moods  in  the  light  of 
a  challenge  to  a  controversy,  the  delight  of  his  very  soul. 
He  instantly  despatched  a  copy  of  The  Bloudy  Tenent 
yet  more  Bloudy,  which  she  as  promptly  returned  un- 
read, together  with  a  request  that  he  trouble  her  no  more 
in  this  kind.  But  he  was  not  to  be  rebuffed  in  this  manner. 
He  sends  her  a  lengthy  reply  accepting  her  quasi  challenge, 
as  expressed  in  her  belief  that  his  new  lights  would  prove 


204  Roger  Williams 

but  dark  lanterns.  His  argument  is  couched  in  terms 
in  the  highest  degree  courteous,  in  this  respect  differing 
widely  from  his  letters  addressed  some  years  before,  to 
Lady  Barrington.  He  makes  a  strong  plea  for  the  doc- 
trine of  a  new  birth,  and  exhibits  his  strong  disapproval 
of  ecclesiastical  ordinances — especially  that  of  baptism, 
and  of  orders  in  the  ministry,  In  conclusion,  since  she 
has  referred  him  to  certain  books  for  his  reading,  he  in 
turn  recommends  her  to  peruse  Jeremy  Taylor's  Liberty 
of  Prophesying  and  Milton's  Eikonoklastes. 

Mrs.  Sadlier  was  now  thoroughly  angry  and  closed 
the  correspondence  with  an  exceedingly  sharp  reply,  and 
one  which  cannot  be  commended  for  courtesy  of  expression 
and  moderation  of  tone.  Mrs.  Sadlier  was  evidently 
possessed  of  a  temper,  and  of  a  tongue  which  she  well 
knew  how  to  wield.  She  says  that  she  thought  her  first 
letter  would  have  silenced  him,  "  but, "  she  says,  "  it  seems 
you  have  a  face  of  brass  so  that  you  cannot  blush."  She 
rebukes  him  savagely  for  certain  aspersions  which  he  has 
cast  upon  the  character  of  the  late  king,  saying :  "  None 
but  such  a  villain  as  yourself  would  have  wrote  them." 
This  position  she  enforces  vigorously  with  scriptural 
quotations.  Next  she  pays  her  respects  to  John  Milton, — 
whose  writings  have  been  commended  to  her  perusal, — 
and  attacks  him  with  energy,  for  his  Doctrine  and  Dis- 
cipline of  Divorce,  and  ends  by  accusing  him  of  bigamy 
and  asserts  his  blindness  to  be  a  judgment  of  God  upon 
him.     She  concludes  by  saying: 

By  what  I  have  now  writ  you  know  how  I  stand  affected,  I 
will  walk  as  directly  to  heaven  as  I  can,  in  which  place,  if  you 
will  turn  from  being  a  rebel,  and  fear  God  and  obey  the  King, 
there  is  hope  I  may  meet  you  there:  howsoever,  trouble  me  no 
more  with  your  letters  for  they  are  very  troublesome  to  her  that 
wishes  you  in  the  place  from  whence  you  came. 


A  Political  Pioneer  205 

These  letters,  the  originals  of  which  are  in  the  library 
of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  serve  to  show  forth  that 
the  peculiar  characteristic  of  Williams,  a  love  of  contro- 
versy, still  clung  to  him,  and  that  the  merest  semblance  of 
a  challenge  was  enough  to  bring  his  mental  combativeness 
into  full  play. 

During  his  stay  in  England  it  is  certain  that  he  was 
shown  social  courtesies  by  Sir  Henry  Vane  and  his  wife. 
His  discourse,  a  copy  of  which  he  sent  to  Mrs.  Sadlier 
with  his  first  letter  to  that  lady,  was  dedicated  to  Lady 
Vane.  He  also  held  frequent  intimate  conversations 
with  Cromwell,  who  enquired  with  much  interest  con- 
cerning the  Indians  of  New  England  and  the  religious 
Work  which  was  in  progress  among  them.  This  is  set 
forth  fully  in  a  letter  written  by  Williams  after  his  return. 
Roger  Williams  to  John  Winthrop. 

At  my  last  departure  for  England  I  was  importuned  by  the 
Narragansett  sachems  and  especially  by  Ninigret  to  present 
the  petition  to  the  high  sachems  of  England  that  they  might  not 
be  forced  from  their  religion  and  for  not  changing  their  religion 
be  invaded  by  war;  for  they  said  they  were  daily  visited  with 
threatenings  by  Indians  that  came  from  about  the  Massachusetts, 
that  if  they  would  not  pray  they  should  be  destroyed  by  war. 
With  this  their  petitions  I  acquainted  in  private  discourses  divers 
of  the  chiefs  of  our  nation;  and  especially  his  Highness  who  in 
many  discourses  I  had  with  him  never  expressed  the  least  tittle 
of  displeasure,  as  hath  been  here  reported,  but  in  the  midst  of 
disputes  ever  expressed  a  high  spirit  of  love  and  gentleness  and 
was  often  pleased  to  please  himself  with  very  many  questions, 
and  my  answers,  about  the  Indian  affairs  of  this  country;  and 
after  all  hearing  of  yourself  and  us  it  hath  pleased  his  Highness 
and  his  council  to  grant  amongst  other  favors  to  the  Colony, 
some  expressly  concerning  the  very  Indians,  the  native  inhabi- 
tants  of  this  jurisdiction.1 

»R.  I.  Col.  Rec.,  i,  291;  Pubs.  Nar.  Club,  vi,  269. 


206  Roger  Williams 

Mr.  Williams  was  successful  in  his  mission  in  that,  in 
connection  with  Mr.  Clarke,  he  succeeded  in  procuring 
an  order  for  the  vacating  of  the  Coddington  commission 
and  for  the  continuance  of  the  colony  under  the  charter. 
This  order  was  sent  to  New  England  by  hand  of  one 
William  Dyre,  Williams  remaining  for  a  time  in  England. 
The  colony  wrote  to  him  a  letter  of  thanks  for  his  services 
and  proposed  that  he  should  procure  his  own  appoint- 
ment as  governor  of  the  colony  for  one  year.  But  this 
step  he  does  not  appear  even  to  have  attempted  to  take, 
deeming  it,  no  doubt,  to  be  a  movement  savoring  too 
much  of  the  coup  of  Coddington.  He  remained  in  Eng- 
land until  the  summer  of  1654,  supporting  himself,  in 
great  part,  during  his  stay  by  teaching  English  and  the 
languages.  In  July  of  that  year  he  returned,  bringing 
with  him  a  letter  from  Sir  Henry  Vane  addressed  to  the 
colonists  at  Providence  Plantations,  expressing  his  re- 
gret at  learning  of  their  long  continued  dissensions  and 
pleading  with  them  for  greater  harmony  and  unity  of 
purpose.  Williams  brought  with  him  also  an  order  from 
Cromwell  to  the  authorities  of  the  Bay,  directing  them  to 
give  their  bearer  safe  conduct  through  their  territory. 


CHAPTER  XV 

A  most  interesting  circumstance  connected  with  the  life 
of  Roger  Williams  is  his  lifelong  friendship  with  John 
Winthrop.  We  have  read  his  letter  to  the  governor 
written  at  Plymouth  within  a  year  after  his  withdrawal 
from  the  Bay  Colony,  because  he  "durst  not  officiate  to 
an  unseparated  people."  We  know  that  Winthrop — 
Haynes  being  at  that  time  governor  and  Bellingham  deputy 
governor — deeply  regretted  the  banishment  of  Williams, 
although  he  had  long  felt  that  it  was  inevitable.  We  have 
seen  that,  Williams  having  definitely  withdrawn  from  the 
colony,  at  the  mandate  of  the  General  Court,  Winthrop 
sent  him  a  letter  of  advice  as  to  his  future  settlement. 
That  he  did  so  without  the  knowledge  of  the  magistracy 
is  probable,  for  Winthrop 's  own  record  is  to  the  effect 
that  it  was  determined  to  arrest  Williams  and  ship  him 
to  England,  because  the  report  was  current,  that  he  was 
about  to  start  a  plantation  in  the  Narragansett  Country. 
In  1637  something  more  than  a  year  after  the  settlement 
had  been  made  upon  the  Moshaussic,  Winthrop,  desirous 
of  learning  how  the  experiment  of  a  separation  of  the 
civil  from  the  ecclesiastical  was  succeeding,  addressed  to 
Williams  a  letter  of  inquiry.  It  is  quite  probable  that 
this  was  intended  to  be  regarded  as  in  the  nature  of  a  reply 
to  the  letter  of  Williams  to  Winthrop,  in  which  the  former 
outlined  his  plan  of  government  for  his  newly  established 
plantation.  Williams  made  reply  in  a  lengthy  epistle, 
in  which  he  responds  to  the  queries  of  his  correspondent 
in  detail.  The  substance  of  these  queries  thus  propounded 
is  readily  gathered  from  the  reply. 


208  Roger  Williams 

Roger  Williams  to  John  Winthrop. 

Providence  the  24th  of  the  8th.  [1637] 

Sir,  worthy  and  well  beloved, — I  was  abroad  about  the 
Pequod  bufinefs  when  your  letter  arrived,  and  fince  meffengers 
have  not  fitted,  &c. 

I  therefore  now  thankfully  acknowledge  your  wifdom  and 
gentlenefs  in  receiving  fo  lovingly  my  late  rude  and  foolifh  lines: 
you  bear  with  fools  gladly  becaufe  you  are  wife. 

I  ftill  wait  upon  your  love  and  faithfulnefs  for  thofe  poor 
papers,  and  cannot  but  believe  that  your  heart,  tongue,  and  pen 
fhould  be  one,  if  I  were  Turk  or  Jew,  &c. 

Your  fix  queries  I  welcome,  my  love  forbidding  me  to  fur- 
mife  that  a  Pharifee,  a  Sadducee,  an  Herodian,  &c,  wrote  them; 
but  rather  that  your  love  and  pity  framed  them  as  a  phyfician 
to  the  fick,   &c. 

He  that  made  us  thefe  fouls  and  fearcheth  them,  that  made 
the  ear  and  eye,  and  therefore  fees  and  hears  I  lie  not,  but  in 
his  prefence  have  fadly  fequeftered  myfelf  to  his  holy  tribunal, 
and  your  interrogatories,  begging  from  his  throne  thofe  feven 
fiery  lamps  and  eyes,  his  holy  Spirit,  to  help  the  fcrutiny,  de- 
firous  to  fufpect  myfelf  above  the  old  ferpent  himfelf,  and  re- 
membering that  he  that  trufteth  in  his  own  heart  is  a  fool. 
Prov.  28. 

While  I  anfwer  let  me  importune  from  your  loving  breaft 
that  good  opinion  that  you  deal  with  one  (however  fo  and  fo, 
in  your  judgment  yet)  ferious,  and  defirous  in  the  matters  of 
God's  Sanctuary  to  ufe  (as  the  double  weights  of  the  Sanctuary 
teach  us)  double  diligence. 
I      Your  firft  Querie  then  is  this. 

What  have  you  gained  by  your  new-found  practices  ?  &c. 

I  confefs  my  gains  caft  up  in  man's  exchange  are  loss  of 
friends,  efteem,  maintenance,  &c,  but  what  was  gain  in  that 
refpect  I  defire  to  count  loft  for  the  excellency  of  the  knowl- 
edge of  Chrift  Jesus  my  Lord:  &c.  To  His  all  glorious  Name 
I  know  I  have  gained  the  honor  of  one  of  his  poor  witneffes, 
though  in  fackcloth. 


A  Political  Pioneer  209 

To  your  beloved  f elves  and  others  of  God's  people  yet  afleep, 
this  witnefs  in  the  Lord's  feafon  at  your  waking  fhall  be  prof- 
perous,  and  the  feed  fown  fhall  arife  to  the  greater  purity  of 
the  kingdom  and  ordinances  of  the  Prince  of  the  kings  of  the 
earth. 

To  myfelf  (through  his  rich  grace)  my  tribulation  hath  brought 
fome  confolation  and  more  evidence  of  his  love,  finging  Mofes 
his  fong  and  the  Lambs,  in  that  weak  victory  which  (through 
His  help)  I  have  gotten  over  the  beaft,  his  picture,  his  mark, 
and  number  of  his  name,  Revel.  15.  2.  3. 

If  you  afk  for  numbers,  the  witneffes  are  but  two:  Revel.  11., 
and  how  many  millions  of  Chriftians  in  name,  and  thoufands 
of  Chriftians  in  heart,  do  call  the  truths  (wherein  yourfelf  and 
I  agree  in  witneffing)  new  found  practices? 

Gideon's  army  was  thirty-two  thoufand;  but  cowardice  re- 
turned twenty-two  thoufand  back,  and  nine  thoufand  feven  hun- 
dred worldlings  fent  but  three  hundred  to  the  battle. 

I  will  not  by  prophecy  exafperate,  but  wifh  (in  the  black  and 
ftormy  day)  your  company  be  not  lefs  than  Gideon's  to  fight  (I 
mean  with  the  Blood  of  the  Lamb  and  Word  of  Witnefs)  for 
what  you  profefs  to  fee. 

To  your  fecond,  viz.:  Is  your  fpirit  as  even  as  it  was  feven 
years  fince? 

I  will  not  follow  the  fafhion  either  in  commending  or  com- 
demning  of  myfelf.  You  and  I  stand  at  one  dreadful,  dreadful 
tribunal:  yet  what  is  paft  I  defire  to  forget,  and  to  prefs  for- 
ward towards  the  mark  for  the  price  of  the  high  calling  of  God 
in  Chrift. 

And  for  the  evennefs  of  my  fpirit. 

Toward  the  Lord,  I  hope  I  more  long  to  know  and  do  His 
holy  pleafure  only,  and  to  be  ready  not  only  to  be  banifhed,  but 
to  die  in  New  England  for  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jefus. 

Towards  yourfelves,  I  have  hitherto  begged  of  the  Lord  an 
even  fpirit,  and  I  hope  ever  fhall,  as 

Firft,  reverently  to  efteem  of,  and  tenderly  to  refpect  the  per- 
fons  of  many  hundreds  of  you,  &c. 


210 v  Roger  Williams 

Secondly,  To  rejoice  to  fpend  and  be  fpent  in  any  fervice, 
(according  to  my  confcience)  for  your  welfares. 

Thirdly,  To  rejoice  to  find  out  the  leaft  fwerving  in  judgment 
or  practice  from  the  help  of  any,  even  the  leaft  of  you. 

Laftly,  to  mourn  daily,  heavily,  unceffantly,  till  the  Lord  look 
down  from  Heaven,  and  bring  all  his  precious  living  ftones 
into  one  New  Jerufalem. 

To  your  third,  viz. :  Are  you  not  grieved  that  you  have  grieved 
fo  many  ? 

I  fay  with  Paul,  I  vehemently  forrow  for  the  forrow  of  any 
of  Zion's  daughters,  who  fhould  ever  rejoice  in  her  King,  &c, 
yet  I  muft  (and  O  that  I  had  not  caufe)  grieve  becaufe  fo  many 
of  Zion's  daughters  fee  not  and  grieve  not  for  their  fouls  defile- 
ments, and  that  fo  few  bear  John  company  in  weeping  after  the 
unfolding  of  the  feals,  which  only  weepers  are  acquainted  with. 

You  thereupon  propound  a  fourth,  Do  you  think  the  Lord 
hath  utterly  forfaken  us? 

I  anfwer  Jehovah  will  not  forfake  His  people  for  His  great 
name's  fake  1.  Sam.  12.  That  is,  the  fire  of  His  love  towards 
thofe  whom  once  He  loves  is  eternal,  like  Himself:  and  thus 
far  be  it  from  me  to  queftion  His  eternal  love  towards  you,  &c. 
Yet  if  you  grant  that  ever  you  were  as  Abraham  among  the 
Chaldees,  Lot  among  the  Sodomites,  the  Kenites  among  the 
Amalekites,  as  Ifrael  in  Egypt  or  Babel,  and  that  under  pain  of 
their  plagues  and  judgments  you  were  bound  to  leave  them, 
depart,  fly  out,  (not  from  the  places  as  in  the  type,)  but  from 
the  filthinefs,  of  their  fins,  &c,  and  if  it  prove,  as  I  know  af- 
furedly  it  fhall,  that  though  you  have  come  far,  yet  you  never 
came  out  of  the  wildernefs  to  this  day:  then,  I  befeech  you, 
remember  that  yourselves,  and  fo  alfo  many  thoufands  of  God's 
people  muft  yet  mournfully  read  the  74,  79,  80,  and  89  Pfalms, 
the  Lamentations,  Daniel  11th,  and  Revel.  11th,  12th,  13th,  and 
this,  Sir,  I  befeech  you  do  more  ferioufly  then  ever,  and  abftract 
yourfelf  with  a  holy  violence  from  the  dung  heap  of  this  earth, 
the  credit  and  comfort  of  it,  and  cry  to  Heaven  to  remove  the 
ftumbling  blocks,  fuch  idols,  after  which  fometimes  the  Lord 
will  give  His  own  Ifrael  an  anfwer. 


A  Political  Pioneer  211 

Sir,  You  requeft  rae  to  be  free  with  you,  and  therefore  blame 
me  not  if  I  anfwer  your  requeft,  defiring  the  like  payment  from 
your  own  dear  hand,  at  any  time,  in  any  thing. 

And  let  me  add,  that  amongft  all  the  people  of  God,  wherefo- 
ever  fcattered  about  Babel's  banks,  either  in  Rome  or  England, 
&c,  your  cafe  is  the  worft  by  far,  becaufe  while  others  of  God's 
Ifrael  tenderly  refpect  fuch  as  defire  to  fear  the  Lord,  your  very 
judgment  and  confcience  leads  you  to  fmite  and  beat  your  fel- 
low fervants,  expel  them  your  coafts,  &c,  and  therefore,  though 
I  know  the  elect  fhall  never  finally  be  forfaken,  yet  Sodom's, 
Egypt's,  Amalek's,  Babel's  judgments  ought  to  drive  us  out,  to 
make  our  calling  out  of  this  world  to  Chrift,  and  our  election 
fure  in  him. 

Sir,  Your  fifth  is,  From  what  fpirit,  and  to  what  end  do  you 
drive  ? 

Concerning  my  fpirit,  as  I  faid  before,  I  could  declaim  againft 
it,  but  whether  the  fpiritof  Chrift  Jefus,  for  whofe  vifible  kingdom 
and  ordinances  I  witnefs,  &c,  or  the  fpirit  of  Antichrift  (1  John 
4)  againft  whom  only  I  conteft,  do  drive  me,  let  the  Father  of 
Spirits  be  pleafed  to  fearch,  and  (worthy  Sir)  be  you  alfo  pleafed 
by  the  word  to  fearch:  and  I  hope  you  will  find  that  as  you  fay 
you  do,  I  alfo  feek  Jefus  w,ho  was  nailed  to  the  gallows,  I  afk 
the  way  to  loft  Zion,  I  witnefs  what  I  believe  I  fee  patiently 
(the  Lord  affifting)  in  fackcloth,  I  long  for  the  bright  appear- 
ance of  the  Lord  Jefus  to  confume  the  man  of  fin:  I  long  for  the 
appearance  of  the  Lamb's  wife  alfo,  New  Jerufalem:  I  wifh 
heartily  profperity  to  you  all,  Governor  and  people,  in  your 
civil  way,  and  mourn  that  you  see  not  your  poverty,  nakednefs, 
&c,  in  fpirituals,  and  yet  I  rejoice  in  the  hopes  that  as  the  way 
of  the  Lord  to  Apollo,  fo  within  a  few  years  (through,  I  fear 
though,  many  tribulations)  the  way  of  the  Lord  Jefus,  the  firft 
and  moft  ancient  path,  fhall  be  more  plainly  difcovered  to  you 
and  me. 

Laftly,  You  afk  whether  my  former  condition  would  not  have 
ftood  with  a  gracious  heart,  &c.  ? 


212  Roger  Williams 

At  this  Query,  Sir,  I  wonder  much,  becaufe  you  know  what 
fins,  yea  all  manner  of  fins,  (the  fin  unto  death  excepted,)  a 
child  of  God  may  lie  in,  inftance  I  need  not. 

Secondly,  When  it  comes  to  matter  of  confcience  that  the 
ftroke  lies  upon  the  very  judgment,  that  the  thing  practiced  is 
lawful,  &c,  as  the  polygamy  of  the  Saints,  the  building  of  the 
Temple,  (if  David  had  gone  on,)  the  many  falfe  miniftries  and 
miniftratioiis  (like  the  ark  upon  the  new  cart)  which  from 
Luther's  times  to  this  day  God's  children  have  confcientioufly 
practiced.  Who  then  can  wonder  (and  yet  indeed  who  can  not 
but  wonder)  how  a  gracious  heart,  before  the  Lord's  awakening, 
and  calling,  and  drawing  out,  may  lie  in  many  abominations  ? 

Two  inftances  I  fhall  be  bold  to  prefent  you  with.  Firft,  do 
you  not  hope  Bifhop  Ufher  hath  a  gracious  heart  ?  and  fecondly, 
Do  you  not  judge  that  your  own  heart  was  gracious  even  when 
(with  the  poifoned  fhirt  on  your  back)  you,  &c.  ? 

But  while  another  judgeth  the  condition  fair,  the  foul  that 
fears,  doubts,  and  feels  a  guilt  hath  broken  bones,  &c.  Now, 
worthy  Sir,  I  muft  call  up  your  wifdom,  your  love,  your  patience, 
your  promife  and  faithfulnefs,  candid  ingenuity,  &c.  My 
heart's  defire  is  abundant,  and  exceeds  my  pen.  My  head  and 
actions  willing  to  live  (as  the  Apoftle  Paul)  xa^&S  '£V  naau 
Where  I  err,  Chrift  be  pleafed  to  reftore  me,  where  I  ftand,  to 
eftablifh.  If  you  pleafe  I  have  also  a  few  Queries  to  yourfelf, 
without  your  leave  I  will  not:  but  will  ever  mourn,  (the  Lord 
affifting,)  that  I  am  no  more  (though  I  hope  ever)  yours, 

R:  Will: 

Sir,  Concerning  natives:  the  Pequods  and  Nayantaquits  re- 
folve  to  live  and  die  together,  and  not  to  yield  up  one.  Laft 
night  tidings  came  that  the  Mohawks,  (the  cannibals,)  have 
flain  fome  of  our  countrymen  at  Connecticut.  I  hope  it  is  not 
true. 

To  John  Winthrop,  Governor •,  &c. 

The  correspondence  with  Winthrop  in  the  matter  of 
the  Pequod  uprising,  important  as  it  was,  comprised  by 
no  means  the  most  interesting  of  the  missives  which  passed 


A  Political  Pioneer  213 

between  the  two  friends.  Of  the  one  hundred  and  fifty 
or  more  letters  of  Roger  Williams  which  are  extant1,  by 
far  the  greater  number  are  addressed  to  John  Winthrop. 
Many,  like  those  quoted,  are  upon  matters  of  weighty 
moment,  in  the  affairs  of  the  government,  and  many  are 
personal  and  social  in  their  nature.  One  of  the  most 
pleasing  was  written  but  a  few  days  later  than  the  one 
just  quoted,  and  it  is  not  improbable  that  the  two  epistles 
may  have  been  forwarded  by  the  same  messenger,  the 
sachem  Miantonomoh.  The  contents  of  the  letter  suf- 
ficiently explain  its  purpose. 

Roger  Williams  to  John  Winthrop. 
To  his  much  honored  Governor,  John  Winthrop. 

The  last  of  the  week,  I  think  the  28th  of  the  8th  [Oct.  28, 1637] 
Sir:  This  bearer,  Miantunnomu,  resolving  to  go  on  his  visit, 
I  am  bold  to  request  a  word  of  advice  from  you  concerning  a 
proposition  made  by  Canonicus  and  himself  to  me.  Some  half 
year  since  Canonicus  gave  an  island  in  this  bay  to  Mr.  Oldham, 
by  name  Chibachuwese  [now  Prudence]  upon  condition,  as  it 
should  seem,  that  he  would  dwell  there  near  unto  them.  The 
Lord  (in  whose  hands  all  hearts  are)  turning  their  affections 
toward  myself,  they  desired  me  to  remove  thither  and  dwell 
nearer  to  them.  I  have  answered  once  and  again  that  for  pre- 
sent I  mind  not  to  remove;  but  if  I  have  it  from  them,  I  would 
give  them  satisfaction  for  it,  and  build  a. little  house  and  put  in 
some  swine,  as  understanding  the  place  to  have  store  of  fish 
and  good  feeding  for  swine.  Of  late  I  have  heard  that  Mr. 
Gibbons,  upon  occasion,  motioned  your  desire  and  his  own  of 
putting  some  swine  on  some  of  these  islands,  which  hath  made 
me  since  more  desire  to  obtain  it,  because  I  might  thereby  not 
only  benefit  myself,  but  also  pleasure  yourself,  whom  I  more 
desire  to  pleasure  and  honor.  I  spoke  of  it  now  to  this  Sachem 
and  he  tells  me  that  because  of  the  store  of  fish  Canonicus  desires 

'Pub.  Nar.  Club,  vi. 


214  Roger  Williams 

that  I  would  accept  half,  (it  being  spectacle- wise  and  between 
a  mile  or  two  in  circuit,  as  I  guess)  and  he  would  reserve  the  other; 
but  I  think,  if  I  go  over  I  shall  obtain  the  whole,  your  loving 
counsel,  how  far  it  may  be  inoffensive,  because  it  was  once  (upon 
a  condition  not  kept)  Mr.  Oldham's.  So,  with  respective  salutes 
to  your  kind  self  and  Mrs.  Winthrop,  I  resl, 

Your  worship's  unfeigned  in  all  I  may, 

Roger  Williams. 

That  Winthrop  replied  to  this  letter  at  once,  and  ac- 
cepted the  offer  thus  made  of  a  partnership  in  the  island 
is  certain.  Williams  closed  a  bargain  with  the  sachem 
for  the  island,  the  consideration  being  twenty  fathoms 
of  wampum  and  two  coats,  one-half  of  which  price  was  to 
be  paid  by  Winthrop.  A  deed  was  executed  in  which  the 
names  of  Williams  and  Winthrop  were  inserted  as  grantees. 
His  partner  was  at  once  notified  of  the  transaction  by 
Williams. 

Roger  Williams  to  John  Winthrop. 

10th  of  9th  [Nov.  10, 1637] 
***** 

I  have  bought  and  paid  for  the  Island  and  because  I  desired 
the  best  confirmation  of  the  purchase  to  yourself  that  I  could, 
I  was  bold  to  insert  your  name  in  the  original  here  inclosed.  The 
ten  fathoms  of  beads  and  one  coat  you  may  please  at  leisure  to 
deliver  to  Mr.  Throckmorton,  who  will  also  be  serviceable  in 
the  conveyance  of  swine  this  way. 

***** 

Not  only  did  Williams  admit  Winthrop  to  a  partner- 
ship with  himself  in  the  purchase  of  this  valuable  tract 
of  land,  and  thus  show  his  friendliness  toward  him,  but 
by  the  commitment  to  his  oversight  of  a  matter  of  personal 
business  did  Williams  show  to  us  his  still  closer  intimacy 
with  the  chief  spirit  of  the  Bay.  It  would  appear,  from 
this  and  other  letters  and  entries  that  Williams  upon  his 


A  Political  Pioneer  215 

withdrawal  from  the  Bay,  left  behind  him  some  business 
affairs  unsettled,  both  in  the  collection  and  in  the  payment 
of  debts  outstanding.  An  old  debt,  contracted  with  him 
while  at  Plymouth,  by  one  George  Ludlow,  he  found  ex- 
ceedingly difficult  of  collection.  He  requested  one  Richard 
Collicut  to  act  for  him  in  its  collection  and  sent  him  a 
power  of  attorney,  but  with  no  good  success.  He  then 
turned  to  Winthrop  and  begged  for  his  assistance: 

Roger  Williams  to  John  Winthrop. 
To  his  most  fwnored  Governor  John  Winthrop. 

Sir, — Having  used  many  means  and  many  Attornies  (in  my 
absence)  to  recover  a  debt  of  Mr.  George  Ludlow  and  failed  by 
all,  and  now  last  of  all  by  Richard  Collicut  who  undertook 
seriously,  but  comes  off  weakly  in  it:  let  me  humbly  beg  what 
help  in  a  righteous  way  may  be  afforded  (now  in  his  departure) 
to  cause  him  to  deal  honestly  with  me  who  have  many  years  and 
in  many  wants  been  patient  toward  him.  The  debt  was  for 
mine  own  and  wife's  better  apparel,  put  off  to  him  at  Plymouth. 
My  bills  are  lost  but  his  own  hand  which  the  bearer  will  deliver 
is  testimony  sufficient.  He  hath  used  so  many  flights  and  told 
so  many  falsehoods,  that  Sir,  if  you  believe  more  than  you  see, 
I  must  'patiently  give  my  debt  for  desperate;  however  with  my 
best  respects  to  your  kind  self  and  Mrs.  Winthrop,  and  sighs 
to  heaven  for  you,  I  rest, 

Your  worship's  unfeignedly  faithful  till  death, 

Roger  Williams. 

A  little  later,  finding  himself  beset  with  troubles  caused 
by  the  the  importunity  of  a  creditor,  whom  he  left  behind, 
unsatisfied,  in  Salem,  and  who  placed  an  attachment  upon 
his  homestead,  in  that  town,  he  again  appeals  to  Winthrop 
for  counsel  and  assistance.  He  prefaces  his  letter  with 
a  reference  to  a  recent  earthquake,  in  which  he  hears  and 
sees  the  voice  and  hand  of  God: 


216  Roger  Williams 

Roger  Williams  to  John  Winthrop. 
For  his  much  honored  Mr.  Governor,  John  Winthrop.  , 

Providence,  [June,  1638.] 

Sir, — I  fometimes  fear  that  my  lines  are  as  thick  and  over 
bufy  as  the  mufketoes,  &c,  but  your  wifdom  will  connive,  and 
your  love  will  cover,  &c. 

Two  things  at  prefent  for  information. 

Firft  in  the  affairs  of  the  Moft  High;  his  late  dreadful  voice 
and  hand:  that  audible  and  fenfible  voice,  the  Earthquake. 

All  thefe  parts  felt  it,  (whether  beyond  the  Narraganfett  I 
yet  learn  not),  for  myself  I  fcarce  perceived  ought  but  a  kind 
of  thunder  and  a  gentle  moving,  &c,  and  yet  it  was  no  more 
this  way  to  many  of  our  own  and  the  natives  apprehenfions, 
and  but  one  fudden  fhort  motion. 

The  younger  natives  are  ignorant  of  the  like:  but  the  elder 
inform  me  that  this  is  the  fifth  within  thefe  four  fcore  years  in 
the  land:  the  firft  about  three  fcore  and  ten  years  fince:  the 
fecond  fome  three  fcore  and  four  years  fince,  the  third  fome 
fifty-four  years  fince,  the  fourth  fome  forty-fix  fince:  and  they 
always  obferved  either  plague  or  pox  or  fome  other  epidemical 
difeafe  followed;  three,  four  or  five  years  after  the  Earthquake, 
(or  Naunaumemoauke,  as  they  speak). 

He  be  mercifully  pleafed  himfelf  to  interpret  and  open  his 
own  riddles,  and  grant  (it  be  pleasing  in  his  eyes)  it  may  not  be 
for  deftruction,  and  but  (as  the  Earthquake  before  the  Jailor's 
converfion)  a  means  of  shaking  and  turning  of  all  hearts,  (which 
are  his,)  Englifh  or  Indian,  to  him.  To  further  this  (if  the  Lord 
pleafe)  the  Earthquake  fenfibly  took  about  a  thoufand  of  the 
natives  in  a  moft  folemn  meeting  for  play,  &c. 

Secondly,  a  word  in  mine  own  particular,  only  for  informa- 
tion. I  owe  between  50  and  60li  to  Mr.  Cradock  for  com- 
modities received  from  Mr.  Mayhew.  Mr.  Mayhew  will  teftify 
that  (being  Mr.  Cradock's  agent)  he  was  content  to  take  pay- 
ment, what  (and  when)  my  houfe  at  Salem  yielded:  accordingly 
I  long  fince  put  it  into  his  hand,  and  he  into  Mr.  Jollies',  who 
befide  my  voluntary  act  and  his  attachment  fince,  fues  as  I 


A  Political  Pioneer  217 

hear  for  damages,  which  I  question :  fince  I  have  not  failed  againf t 
contract  and  content  of  the  firft  agent,  but  the  holy  pleafure 
of  the  Lord  be  done:  unto  whofe  merciful  arms  (with  all  due 
refpects)  I  leave  you,  wifhing  heartily  that  mercy  and  goodnefg 
may  ever  follow  you  and  yours. 

Roger  Williams. 

Sir,  to  your  dear  companion,  Mr.  Deputy,  Mr.  Bellingham, 
and  theirs,  all  respective  falutes,    &c. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  the  records  made  by  the  two 
great  New  England  historians  concerning  this  earthquake. 
Governor  Bradford's  account  is  circumstantial: 

This  year,  aboute  ye  1.  or  2.  of  June,  was  a  great  &  fearfull 
earthquake;  it  was  in  this  place  heard  before  it  was  felte.  It 
came  with  a  rumbling  noyse,  or  low  murmure,  like  unto  remote 
thunder;  it  came  from  ye  nor  ward  &  pased  southward.  As  ye 
noyse  aproched  nerer,  the  earth  begane  to  shake  and  came  at 
length  with  that  violence  as  caused  platters,  dishes,  &  such  like 
things  as  stoode  upon  shelves,  to  clatter  &  fall  downe;  yea, 
persons  were  afraid  of  ye  houses  them  selves.  It  so  fell  oute  yt 
at  ye  same  time  diverse  of  ye  cheefe  of  this  towne  were  mett 
together  at  one  house,  conferring  with  some  of  their  friends  that 
were  upon  their  removall  from  ye  place,  (as  if  ye  Lord  would 
herby  shew  ye  signes  of  his  displeasure,  in  their  shaking  a  peeces 
&  removalls  one  from  an  other.)  How  ever  it  was  very  terrible 
for  ye  time,  and  as  ye  men  were  set  talking  in  ye  house,  some 
women  and  others  were  without  ye  dores,  and  ye  earth  shooke 
with  yt  violence  as  they  could  not  stand  without  catching  hould 
of  ye  posts  &  pails  yt  stood  next  them;  but  ye  violence  lasted  not 
long.  And  aboute  halfe  an  hower,  or  less,  came  an  other  noyse 
&  shaking,  but  nether  so  loud  nor  strong  as  ye  former,  but 
quickly  passed  over;  and  so  it  ceased.  It  was  not  only  on  ye 
sea  coast,  but  ye  Indeans  felt  it  within  land;  and  some  ships 
that  were  upon  ye  coast  were  shaken  by  it.  So  powerfull  is  ye 
mighty  hand  of  ye  Lord,  as  to  make  both  the  earth  &  sea  to 
shake,  and  the  mountaines  tremble  before  him,  when  he  pleases; 
and  who  can  itay  his  hand?     It  was  observed  that  ye  somers, 

f 


218  Roger  Williams 

for  divers  years  togeather  after  this  earthquake,  were  not  so  hotte 
&  seasonable  for  ye  ripning  of  come  &  other  fruits  as  formerly; 
but  more  could  &  moyst  &  subjecte  to  erly  &  untimly  frosts, 
by  which,  many  times,  much  Indean  come  came  not  to  maturitie; 
but  whether  this  was  any  cause  I  leave  it  to  naturalists  to  judge.1 

Mr.  Winthrop  makes  a  briefer  record,  but  one  which 
agrees  in  all  essential  particulars  with  that  of  Bradford. 
He  does  not,  however,  like  Williams  and  Bradford,  ex- 
tract a  moral  from  the  occurrence.     He  says: — 

Between  three  and  four  in  the  afternoon,  being  clear,  warm 
weather,  the  wind  westerly,  there  was  a  great  earthquake.  It 
came  with  a  noise  like  a  continued  thunder,  or  the  rattling  of 
coaches  in  London,  but  was  presently  gone.  It  was  at  Connec- 
ticut, at  Naragansett,  at  Pascataquack,  and  all  the  ports  round 
about.  It  shook  the  ships,  which  rode  in  the  harbour,  and  all 
the  islands,  &c.  The  noise  and  the  shakings  continued  about 
four  minutes.  The  earth  was  unquiet  twenty  days  after,  by 
times.2 

Although  the  personal  relations  of  Williams  with  Win- 
throp were  so  friendly,  they  were  not  so  with  all. 

In  December,  1670,  John  Cotton,  the  younger,  then 
minister  at  Plymouth  addressed  a  letter  to  Roger  Williams, 
arraigning  him  with  great  severity,  for  his  attitude  in  his 
controversy,  years  before,  with  the  senior  Cotton.  Mr. 
Williams  replied  with  great  moderation. 

Roger  Williams  to  John  Cotton,  the  younger. 

Providence,  25  March,  1671  [so  called]. 

Sir: — Loving  respects  premised.  About  three  weeks  since 
I  received  yours,  dated  in  December,  and  wonder  not  that  prej- 
udice, interest  and  passion  have  lift  up  your  feet  thus  to  trample 
on  me  as  on  some  Mahometan,  Jew  or  Papist,  some  common 
thief  or  swearer,  drunkard  or  adulterer;  imputing  to  me  the 

'Bradford,  437,  438. 
2Winthrop,  i,  235. 


A  Political  Pioneer  219 

odious  crimes  of  blasphemies,  reproaches,  slanders,  idolatries; 
to  be  in  the  Devil's  Kingdom :  a  graceless  man,  &c,  and  all  this 
without  any  Scripture,  reason,  or  argument,  which  might  en- 
lighten my  conscience  as  to  any  error  or  offence  to  God  or  your 
dear  father.  I  have  now  much  above  fifty  years  humbly  and 
earnestly  begged  of  God  to  make  me  as  vile  as  a  dead  dog  in 
my  own  eye,  so  that  I  might  not  fear  what  men  should  falsely 
say  or  cruelly  do  against  me;  and  I  have  had  long  experience  of 
his  merciful  answer  to  me  in  men's  false  charges  and  cruelties 
against  me  to  this  hour. 

My  great  offence  (you  so  often  repeat)  is  my  wrong  to  your 
dear  father, — your  glorified  father,  &c.  But  the  truth  is,  the 
love  and  honor  which  I  have  always  showed  (in  speech  and 
writing)  to  that  excellently  learned  and  holy  man,  your  father, 
have  been  so  great,  that  I  have  been  censured  by  divers  for  it. 
God  knows  that,  for  God's  sake,  I  tenderly  loved  and  honored 
his  person,  (as  I  did  the  persons  of  the  magistrates,  ministers, 
and  members  whom  I  knew  in  Old  England,  and  knew  their 
holy  affections  and  upright  aims  and  great  self  denial,  to  enjoy 
more  of  God  in  this  wilderness);  and  I  have  therefore  desired 
to  waive  all  personal  feelings  and  rather  mention  their  beauties, 
to  prevent  the  insultings  of  the  Papists  or  profane  Protestants, 
who  used  to  scoff  at  the  weakness — yea,  at  the  divisions — of 
those  they  use  to  brand  for  Puritans.  The  holy  eye  of  God 
hath  seen  this  the  cause  why  I  have  not  said  nor  writ  what 
abundantly  I  could  have  done,  but  have  rather  chose  to  bear 
all  censures,  losses  and  hardships,  &c. 

This  made  that  honored  father  of  the  Bay,  Mr.  Winthrop, 
to  give  me  the  testimony,  not  only  of  examplary  diligence  in  the 
ministry,  (when  I  was  satisfied  in  it)  but  of  patience  also,  in 
these  words  in  a  letter  to  me:  "Sir,  we  have  often  tried  your 
patience  but  could  never  conquer  it."  My  humble  desire  is 
still  to  bear,  not  only  what  you  say,  but,  when  power  is  added 
to  your  will,  an  hanging  or  burning  from  you,  as  you  plainly 
intimate  you  would  long  since  have  served  my  book,  had  it  been 
your  own,  as  not  being  fit  to  be  in  the  possession  of  any  Christian, 
as  you  write. 


220  Roger  Williams 

Alas!  Sir,  what  hath  this  book  merited  but  presseth  holiness 
of  heart,  holiness  of  life,  holiness  of  worship,  and  pity  to  poor 
sinners,  and  patience  toward  them  while  they  break  not  the 
civil  peace?  'Tis  true,  my  first  book,  the  Bloudy  Tenent  was 
burnt  by  the  Presbyterian  party  (then  prevailing) ;  but  this  book 
whereof  we  now  speak  (being  my  Reply  to  your  father's  Answer) 
was  received  with  applause  and  thanks  by  the  army,  by  the 
Parliament,  professing  that,  of  necessity, — yea,  of  Christian 
Equity, — there  could  be  no  reconciliation,  pacification,  or  living 
together,  but  by  permitting  of  dissenting  consciences  to  live 
amongst  them;  insomuch  that  that  excellent  servant  of  God, 
Mr.  John  Owen  (called  Dr.  Owen)  told  me  before  the  General 
(who  sent  for  me  about  that  very  business)  that,  before  I  landed, 
himself  and  many  others  had  answered  Mr.  Cotton's  book  al- 
ready. The  first  book,  and  the  point  of  permitting  Dissenters, 
his  majesty's  royal  father  assented  to;  and  how  often  hath  the 
son,  our  sovereign,  declared  himself  indulgent  toward  dis- 
senters, notwithstanding  the  clamors  and  plottings  of  his  self- 
seeking  bishops!  And,  sir  (as  before  and  formerly)  I  add,  if 
yourself,  or  any  in  public  or  private,  show  me  any  failing  against 
God  or  your  father  in  that  book,  you  shall  find  me  diligent  and 
faithful  in  weighing  and  confessing  or  replying  in  love  and 
meekness. 

Oh!  you  say,  wrong  to  a  father  made  a  dumb  child  speak, 
&c.  Sir,  I  pray  forget  not  that  your  father  was  not  God,  but 
man, — sinful,  and  failing  in  many  things,  as  we  all  do,  saith  the 
Holy  Scripture.  I  presume  you  know  the  scheme  of  Mr.  Cotton's 
Contradictions  (about  church  discipline,)  presented  to  the  world 
by  Mr.  Daniel  Cawdrey,  a  man  of  name  and  note.  Also,  Sir, 
take  heed  you  prefer  not  the  Earthen  pot  (though  your  excel- 
lent father)  before  his  most  high  eternal  Maker  and  Potter. 
Blessed  that  you  were  born  and  proceeded  from  him,  if  you 
honor  him  more  for  his  humility  and  holiness  than  for  outward 
respect,  which  some  (and  none  shall  justly  more  than  myself) 
put  upon  him. 

Sir,  you  call  my  three  proposals,  &c.,  abominable,  false  and 
wicked;  but,  as  before,  thousands  (high  and  holy,  too,  some  of 


A  Political  Pioneer  221 

them)  will  wonder  at  you.  Captain  Goodkins,  from  Cambridge, 
writes  me  word  that  he  will  not  be  my  antagonist  in  them,  being 
candidly  understood.  Your  honored  Governour  tells  me  there 
is  no  foundation  for  any  dispute  with  Plymouth  about  these  pro- 
posals; for  you  force  no  men's  conscience.  But,  sir,  you  have 
your  liberty  to  prove  these  abominable,  false,  and  wicked,  and 
so  disprove  that  which  I  have  presented  in  the  book  concerning 
the  New  England  churches  to  be  but  parochial  and  national, 
though  sifted  with  a  finer  sieve  and  painted  with  finer  colors. 

You  are  pleased  to  count  me  excommunicate;  and  therein  you 
deal  more  cruelly  with  me  than  with  all  the  profane,  and  Pro- 
testants and  Papists  too,  with  whom  you  hold  communion  in 
the  parishes,  to  which  (as  you  know)  all  are  forced  by  the  bishops. 
And  yet  you  count  me  a  slave  to  the  Devil,  because,  in  conscience 
to  God,  and  love  to  God  and  you,  I  have  told  you  of  it.  But, 
Sir,  the  truth  is,  (I  will  not  say  I  excommunicate  you,  but)  I 
first  withdraw  communion  from  yourselves  for  halting  between 
Christ  and  Antichrist — the  parish  churches  and  Christian  con- 
gregations. Long  after,  when  you  had  consultations  of  killing 
me,  but  some  rather  advised  a  dry  pit  of  banishment,  Mr.  Peters 
advised  an  excommunication  to  be  sent  me,  (after  the  manner  of 
Popish  bulls,  &c.)  but  this  same  man  in  London,  embraced  me, 
and  told  me  he  was  for  liberty  of  conscience  and  preached  it; 
and  complained  to  me  of  Salem  for  excommunicating  his  dis- 
tracted wife,  and  for  wronging  him  in  his  goods  which  he  left 
behind  him. 

Sir,  you  tell  me  my  time  is  lost,  &c,  because  (as  I  conceive 
you)  not  in  the  function  of  ministry.  I  confess  the  offices  of 
Christ  Jesus  are  the  best  callings;  but  generally  they  are  the 
worst  trades  in  the  world,  as  they  are  practised  only  for  a  main- 
tenance, a  place,  a  living,  a  benefice,  &c.  God  hath  many 
employments  for  his  servants.  Moses  forty  years,  and  the 
Lord  Jesus  thirty  years,  were  not  idle,  though  little  known  what 
they  did  as  to  any  ministry;  and  the  two  prophets  prophesy  in 
sackcloth,  and  are  Christ  Jesus  his  ministers,  though  not  owned 
by  the  public  ordinations.  God  knows,  I  have  much  and  long 
and  conscientiously  and  mournfully  weighed  and  digged  into 


222  Roger  Williams 

the  differences  of  the  Protestants  themselves  about  the  ministry. 
He  knows  what  gains  and  preferments  I  have  refused  in  univer- 
sities, city,  country  and  court,  in  Old  England,  and  something  in 
New  England,  &c,  to  keep  my  soul  undefiled  in  this  point,  and 
not  to  act  with  a  doubting  conscience,  &c.  God  was  pleased  to 
show  me  much  of  this  in  Old  England;  and  in  New,  being  unan- 
imously chosen  teacher  at  Boston,  (before  your  dear  father  came, 
divers  years,)  I  conscientiously  refused,  and  withdrew  to  Plym- 
outh, because  I  durst  not  officiate  to  an  unseparated  people,  as, 
upon  examination  and  conference  I  found  them  to  be.  At 
Plymouth  I  spake  on  the  Lord's  days  and  week  days,  and  wrought 
hard  at  the  how  for  my  bread,  (and  so  afterward  at  Salem)  until 
I  found  them  both  professing  to  be  a  separated  people  in  New 
England  (not  admitting  the  most  godly  to  communion  without 
a  covenant)  and  yet  communicating  with  the  parishes  in  Old  by 
their  members  repairing  on  frequent  occasions  thither. 

Sir,  I  heartily  thank  you  for  your  conclusion, — wishing  my 
conversion  and  salvation;  without  which,  surely  vain  are  our 
privileges  of  being  Abraham's  sons  enjoying  the  covenant,  holy 
education,  holy  worship,  holy  church  or  temple;  of  being 
adorned  with  deep  understanding,  miraculous  faith,  angelic  parts 
and  uttrance;  the  titles  of  pastors  or  apostles,  yea,  of  being 
sacrifices  in  the  fire  to  God. 

Sir,  I  am  unworthy  (though  desirous  to  be) 

Your  friend  and  servant, 

Roger  Williams1. 
To  Mr.  John  Cotton,  at  his  house  in  N.  Plymouth,  these  Present. 

But  Mr.  Williams's  evenness  of  temper  and  sweetness 
of  spirit  did  not  serve  to  free  him  from  antagonisms  and 
troubles  in  his  daily  life  in  his  own  colony.  Allusion  has 
already  been  made  to  the  almost  constant  dissensions  in 
the  Plantations  and  the  efforts  of  Williams  supplemented 
by  those  of  Sir  Henry  Vane  to  heal  them.     That  he  was, 

Troc.  Mass.  Hist.  Soc.,  1855-1858,  313  et  seq.  Pub.  Nar.  Club, 
351,  et  seq. 


A  Political  Pioneer  223 

in  this  effort,  unsuccessful  is  shown  in  the  outbreak  of  a 
personal  feud  with  one  William  Harris,  one  of  the  original 
party  who  sat  down  with  Williams  at  Seekonk,  and  with 
him  removed  to  Moshaussic.  Harris  being  concerned 
in  an  attack  upon  Cromwell,  then  Lord  Protector  of 
England,  although  he  was  a  prominent  man  of  the  town, 
Williams,  as  president  of  the  colony  thought  it  his  duty 
to  institute  proceedings  against  him.  He  accordingly 
issued  a  warrant  for  the  arrest  of  Harris,  March  12,  1656. 
This  aroused  the  bitter  enmity  of  the  latter,  which  con- 
tinued for  many  years.  In  1677  Harris  made  formal 
charges  against  Mr.  Williams.  These  charges  Williams 
met  in  an  elaborate  reply,  addressed  to  the  "Assembly 
of  Commissioners"  and  also  the  Inquest  or  Jury,  sent  from 
the  respective  Colonies  to  Providence. 

^      Defence  of  Roger  Williams. 

To  the  much  honoured  assembly  of  Commissioners  and  also  the 
Inquest  or  Jury,  sent  from  the  respective  Colonies  to  Provi- 
dence, 

17th,  9th  mo,  1677  (so  called)  [Nov.  17,  1677.] 

The  answer  of  Roger  Williams,  to  the  Declaration  of  W. 
Harris  against  the  town  of  Providence,  in  what  particularly,  by 
name  the  said  W.  H.  falsly  and  simply  accuseth  the  said  Roger 
Williams. 

1st.  He  chargeth  Roger  Williams,  for  taking  the  land  of  Prov- 
idence in  his  own  name,  which  should  have  been  taken  in  the 
name  of  those  that  came  up  with  him.  2d.  he  sold  the  lands 
of  Providence  for  more  than  it  cost  him.  3d.  He  promised 
Pawtuxet  for  £5  and  took  £20.  4th.  He  stirred  up  Providence 
men  to  rise  simultaneously  against  Pawtuxet  men. 

I  answer,  it  pleased  the  most  high  to  direct  my  steps  into 
this  Bay,  by  the  loving  private  advice  of  that  very  honored  soul 
Mr.  John  Winthrop  the  Grandfather,  who,  though  he  was  carried 


224  Roger  Williams 

with  the  stream  for  my  banishment,  yet  he  personally  &  tenderly 
loved  me  to  his  last  breath.  It  is  not  true  that  I  was  imployed 
by  any,  made  covenant  with  any,  was  supplied  by  any,  or  desired 
any  to  come  with  me  into  these  parts.  My  soul's  desire  was  to 
do  the  natives  good,  and  to  that  end  to  have  their  language, 
(which  I  afterwards  printed)  and  therefore  desired  not  to  be 
troubled  with  English  company,  yet  out  of  Pity,  I  gave  leave  to 
W.  Harris,  then  poor  and  destitute,  to  come  along  in  my  com- 
pany, I  consented  to  John  Smith,  Miller,  at  Dorchester  (banished 
also)  to  go  with  me,  and  at  John  Smith's  desire,  to  a  poor  young 
fellow,  Francis  Wicks,  as  also  to  a  lad  of  Richard  Watermans. 
These  are  all  I  remember.  But  to  what  could  any  of  these  pre- 
tend? to  be  put  in  the  first  grant  equal  to  myself,  I  promised 
Wm.  Harris  land  and  others  also,  if  it  pleased  God  to  vouchsafe 
it  to  me:  but  God  furnished  myself  with  advantages,  which  Wm. 
H.  nor  scarce  any  in  New  England  had.  1st,  a  constant  zealous 
desire  to  dive  into  the  Indian  language.  2d,  God  was  pleased  to 
give  me  a  painful  Patient  spirit  to  lodge  with  them,  in  their 
filthy  smoke  holes,  (even  while  I  lived  at  Plymouth  and  Salem) 
to  gain  their  tongue.  3d,  I  spared  no  cost,  toward  them,  and 
in  Gifts  to  Onsamaquin,  yea  and  to  all  his,  and  to  Conanicus  & 
his,  tokens  and  presents  many  years  before  I  came  in  person  to 
the  Nahiganset,  and  therefore  when  I  came  I  was  Welcome  to 
Osamaquin,  and  that  old  prince  Conanicus,  who  was  most  shy 
of  all  English,  to  his  last  breath.  4th,  I  was  known  to  all  the 
Wampanogs  &  the  Maginsiks  to  be  public  speaker  &  at  Ply- 
mouth &  Salem,  and  therefore  with  them  held  as  a  Sachem. 
5th,  I  could  debate  with  them  in  a  great  measure  in  their  own 
Language.  6th,  I  had  the  favour  and  countenance  of  that 
noble  soul  Mr.  Winthrop  whom  all  Indians  respected.  7th,  I 
mortgaged  my  house  and  Land  at  Salem  (with  some  hundredths) 
for  supplies  to  go  through,  and  therefore  was  it  a  simple  business 
for  me  to  put  in  one  with  my  self,  all  that  came  with  me  and 
afterwards,  were  not  engaged,  but  came  and  went  at  pleasure; 
but  I  was  forced  to  go  through  and  stay  by  it. 

2d.  As  to  my  selling  to  them  Pawtuxet  &  Providence:  It  is 
not  true  that  I  was  such  a  fool  to  sell  either  of  them,  especially 


A  Political  Pioneer  225 

as  W.  II.  saith  "like  an  Halter  in  the  Market  who  gives  most." 
The  Truth  in  the  Holy  presence  of  the  Lord  is  this.  Wm.  H. 
Pretending  Religion,  wearied  me  with  desires,  that  I  should 
admit  him  and  others  into  fellowship  of  my  purchase.  I  yielded 
and  agreed  that  the  place  should  be  for  such  as  were  destitute 
(especially  for  Conscience  Sake)  and  that  each  person  so  ad- 
mitted should  pay  30s  country  pay,  toward  a  town  stock,  and 
myself  have  £30  toward  my  charges,  which  I  have  had  <£28  in 
broken  parcels  in  5  years.  Pawtuxet  I  parted  with  at  a  small 
addition  to  Providence  (for  then  that  monstrous  bound  or 
business  of  upstream  without  Limits,  was  not  thought  of)  Wm. 
Harris  and  the  first  12  of  Providence  were  restless  for  Pawtuxet 
and  I  parted  with  it  upon  the  same  terms  viz.  for  the  supply  of 
the  destitute,  and  I  had  a  loan  of  them  (then  dear)  when  these 
12  men  (out  of  pretence  of  Conscience  &  my  desire  of  peace) 
had  gotten  the  power  out  of  my  hands,  yet  they  still  yielded  to 
my  grand  desire  of  propagating  a  public  interest,  and  confessed 
themselves  but  as  feoffees,  for  all  the  many  scores,  who  were  reed 
afterwards  paid  the  30s,  not  to  the  purchasers  (so  called)  as  pro- 
prietors, but  as  feoffees  for  a  Town  Stock — and  2d,  Wm.  Field, 
the  builder  of  this  house,  and  others  told  the  new  comers  that 
they  must  not  think  that  they  bought  and  sold  the  right  to  all  the 
lands  and  meadows  in  common  and  100  acres  presently,  and 
power  of  voting  and  all  for  30s,  but  that  it  went  to  a  town  and 
public  use.  As  to  the  Simple  Charge  that  I  bought  cheap  and 
sold  dear,  Mr.  Harris  Cannot  be  ignorant  that  Connanicus 
(whom  he  calls  in  the  Declaration  the  conquerer  of  all  these 
parts)  he  was  not  I  say,  to  be  stirred  with  money  to  sell  his  Lands 
to  let  in  foreigners.  'Tis  true  he  reed  presents  and  gratuities 
many  of  me,  but  it  was  not  Thousand  nor  Ten  Thousands  of 
money  could  have  bought  of  him  an  English  Entrance  into  the 
Bay.  Thousands  could  not  have  bought  of  him  Providence  or 
Pawtuxet  or  Aquideneck  or  any  other  land  I  had  of  him.  I 
gave  him  and  his  youngest  Brother's  son,  Miantunoma,  gifts  of 
two  sorts.  1st,  former  presents  from  Plymouth  and  Salem. 
2d,  I  was  here  their  councellor  and  secretary  in  all  their  wars 
with    Pequods,    Munhiggins,    Long    Hardres,    Wanipanongs. 


226  Roger  Williams 

They  had  my  son,  my  shallop  and  Pinnace  and  hired  servant  &c, 
at  command  on  all  occasions.  Transporting  50  at  a  Time  and 
Lodging  50  at  a  time  at  my  house,  I  never  denied  them  ought, 
that  Lawfully  they  desired  of  me.  Connanicus  laid  me  out 
Grounds  for  a  trading  house  at  Nahiganset  with  his  own  hands, 
but  he  never  traded  with  me,  but  had  freely  what  he  desired, 
goods,  money,  so  that  'tis  simple  to  imagine,  that  many  hun- 
dreds excused  me,  to  the  last  of  that  man's  breath,  who  dying 
sent  for  me  and  desired  to  be  buried  in  my  cloth  of  free  gift 
and  so  he  was.  And  my  trading  house  which  yielded  me  £100 
profit  per  annum,  God  knows,  that  for  the  public  peace  sake, 
I  left  and  Lost  it  about  20  Years  since,  when  I  went  last  for  Eng- 
land. But  honoured  Gentlemen  (bench  &  jury)  I  Beg  your 
patience  for  a  word  more.  He  declares  I  stired  up  Providence 
men  against  Pawtuxet  men.  I  answer,  I  have  been  always 
blamed  for  being  too  mild,  and  the  Truth  is  Chace  Brown,  a 
wise  and  Godly  soul  (now  with  God)  with  my  self  brought  the 
murmuring  after  comers,  and  the  first  monopolizing  12  to  a 
oneness  by  arbitration,  chosen  out  of  ourselves  and  Pawtuxet 
was  allowed  (only  for  Peace  sake)  to  the  first  12,  and  the  12 
gave  me  a  share  which  I  accepted  after  the  arbitration.  But 
as  to  upstream  without  limits  (in  the  boundless  and  mon- 
sterous  sense  it  is  now  urged)  it  came  from  the  same  forge 
from  whence  bloody  &  monstrous  Hocest  Corpus,  this  is  my 
body,  Muim,  cume.  Gentlemen  when  you  find  Wickedness, 
it  is  your  duty  to  terify  &  use  your  sword  the  sword  of  God 
and  the  King  and  New  England,  where  you  find  well  doers, 
as  this  poor  town  of  Providence,  some  in  it  trodden  under 
the  feet  of  Pride  about  40  years,  Commend  them,  praise 
them  and  Relieve  them,  so  will,  not  the  judge  of  the  World  be 
a  terror  to  you  in  the  day  of  your  trials,  but  be  a  balsom  of 
consolation  to  your  souls,  for  which  earnestly  Cries  to 
Heaven  Your  most  Unworthy  Servant 

R.  Williams. 

P.  S. — If  there  be  any  difference  between  W.  H.    &  me,  I 
humbly  offer  to  end  it  by  arbitration,  which  I  humbly  conceive 


A  Political  Pioneer  227 

as  will  be  the  only  medicine  for  this  long  and  Multiplied  disease 
now  before  you,  and  best  answer  his  Majesties  and  all  desires  in 
this  business,  by  this  means  the  Country  will  be  inhabited  and 
with  joy  and  speed.1 

This  letter  is  of  much  interest  apart  from  its  example 
of  vigorous  defence  against  what  the  writer  regarded  as 
unjust  accusations,  but  as  showing  forth  that  evenness  of 
spirit  to  which  Winthrop  alluded  as  a  distinguishing 
characteristic  of  his  friend  Williams.  It  also  gives  us 
some  particulars  as  to  the  personalities  of  his  early  com- 
panions in  exile,  which  have  nowhere  else  been  revealed. 
But  especially  it  discloses  the  fact  that  the  business  of 
Indian  trading,  which  was  begun  at  Salem  and  interrupted 
by  his  banishment,  was  re-opened  at  the  Providence 
Plantations  and  continued  with  large  profit,  up  to  the 
time  of  his  second  visit  to  England.  This  trading  house 
was  erected  on  the  westerly  shore  of  the  Bay,  some  fifteen 
miles  south  of  Providence,  near  the  place  where  is  now  the 
village  of  Wickford.  The  Indian  name  of  the  place  was 
Cawcawmsquissick,  but  is  called  by  Williams,  Narragan- 
sett.  Here  were  written  very  many  of  the  letters  to 
Governor  Winthrop,  which  are  still  preserved.  This 
place  was  in  the  region  where  lived  Ninigret,  one  of  his 
powerful  sachem  friends.  It  was  thus  convenient  for 
the  visits  of  hunters  bringing  their  furs,  and  the  distance 
was  not  great  across  the  Bay  to  Newport,  then  rising  in 
importance  as  a  shipping  port  and  the  chief  town  of  the 
colony,  in  point  of  wealth.  We  have  seen  that,  in  the 
apportionment  of  the  sum  of  one  hundred  pounds,  voted 
by  the  colony  to  be  paid  to  Roger  Williams  for  his  ser- 
vices and  expenses  in  procuring  the  charter,  the  amount 
to  be  paid  by  Newport   was   as  large  as  the  combined 


'It.  I.  Hist.  Tracts  xiv,  52,  a  seq. 


228  Roger  Williams 

shares  of  Providence  and  Portsmouth.  It  was  important, 
then,  that  the  trading  house  should  be  within  easy  reach 
of  Newport  for  here  he  could  the  most  easily  dispose  of 
his  barter  in  the  market,  or  ship  it  to  England,  and  pur- 
chase the  supplies  of  cloth  and  finery,  sugar  and  other 
articles,  necessary  to  meet  the  wants  of  the  Indians  with 
whom  he  traded.  The  profits  of  this  trading  house,  he 
tells  us,  were  fully  one  hundred  pounds  annually,  or  five 
hundred  dollars  of  the  American  currency  of  the  present 
day.  In  purchasing  power  this  sum  was  doubtless  equal, 
in  that  day,  to  several  times  that  amount  in  modern  cur- 
rency. Thus  the  colony  voted  to  reimburse  their  agent 
in  the  amount  which  he  would  have  gained  by  his  trad- 
ing, had  he  remained  at  home. 

As  is  well  understood,  and  especially  through  his  pam- 
phlet, Hireling  Ministry  none  of  Christ's,  Williams  was 
conscientiously  opposed  to  the  employment  of  the  min- 
isterial profession  as  a  means  of  livelihood.  In  this  he 
was  thoroughly  consistent,  for  we  know  that  at  Plymouth 
and  at  Salem,  and  afterward  at  Providence  he  labored 
as  did  the  others  for  his  own  support  and  that  of  his  family. 
Of  this  we  have  his  own  testimony.  "It  is  not  unknown 
to  many  witnesses,"  he  wrote,  "in  Plymouth,  Salem  and 
Providence,  that  the  discusser's  time  hath  not  been  spent 
(through  as  much  as  any  others  whosoever)  altogether 
in  spiritual  labours  and  public  exercise  of  the  word,  but 
day  and  night,  at  home  and  abroad,  on  the  land  and 
water,  at  the  how,  at  the  oare,  for  bread."1 
i  Of  the  family  of  Williams  for  whose  support  he  thus 
labored,  and  afterward  established  his  trading  house  at 
Narragansett,  but  little  has  been  said,  and  indeed  little 
is  known.     We  have  learned  of  his  disappointment  in 


lThe  Bloudy  Tenent  yd  more  Bloudy,  Pub.  Nar.  Club,  iv,  103. 


A  Political  Pioneer  229 

his  love  affair  with  Jane  Whalley  and  we  know  that  in 
less  than  two  years  after  this  episode  in  his  life  he  sailed 
from  Bristol  for  New  England,  accompanied  by  his  wife 
Mary.  We  know  already  that  his  first  child,  Mary,  was 
born  during  his  life  at  Plymouth,  and  he  makes  frequent 
mention  of  his  wife  and  children  left  behind  at  Salem,  at 
his  banishment.  The  record  shows  that  a  second  daughter 
was  born  to  him  in  Salem,  and  that  she  was  named  Free- 
borne.  This  child  was  not  born  when  the  order  of  the 
General  Court,  expelling  him  from  the  jurisdiction  was 
passed,  September  3,  1635;  and  she  was  but  a  few  weeks 
old  when  he  took  his  departure. 

How  the  journey  of  Mrs.  Williams,  from  Salem  to 
Providence  was  accomplished,  with  her  two  children,  one 
two  years  and  the  other  an  infant  in  arms,  is  not  easy  to 
conjecture.  It  is  probable  that  occasion  was  taken  to 
forward  them  on  their  journey  by  some  trading  vessel 
along  the  coast.  The  first  book  of  records  of  the  town  of 
Providence  contains  a  record  of  the  births  of  six  children 
of  Roger  and  Mary  Williams. 

Mary  ye  daughter  of  Roger  Williams  &  Mary  his  wife  was 
borne  at  Plymouth  ye  first  weeke  in  August,  1633  (so  called) 

Freeborne  ye  daughter  of  Roger  Williams  &  Mary  his  wife 
was  born  at  Salem  in  ye  later  end  of  Octob  1635  (so  called) 

Providence  ye  son  of  Roger  Williams  &  Mary  his  wife  was 
borne  at  Providence  in  ye  latter  end  of  ye  month  September  1638 
(so  called) 

Mercy  ye  daughter  of  Roger  Williams  &  Mary  his  wife  was 
borne  at  Providence  about  ye  15th  of  July  1640 

Daniell  ye  son  of  Roger  Williams  &  Mary  his  wife  was  borne 
at  Providence  about  the  15  of  February  1641  (so  called)  counting 
yeare  to  begin  about  ye  25  of  March  so  yt  he  was  borne  above  a 
year    &  half  after  Mercy. 

Joseph  ye  son  of  Roger  &  Mary  Williams  his  wife  was  borne 


230  Roger  Williams 

at  Providence  about  ye  beginning  of  ye  10th  month,  Decemb, 
1643  (so  called) 

With  this  quaint  and  simple  entry  and  with  a  brief  al- 
lusion, here  and  there  in  the  writings  of  Williams,  to  his 
son,  the  formal  record  of  his  domestic  life  must  cease. 
But  in  an  ancient  burying  ground  in  a  corner  of  the  city's 
noble  park,  which  bears  the  name  of  its  founder,  stands 
a  stone  bearing  the  name  of  Joseph,  son  of  Roger  Williams, 
while  around  are  the  graves  of  his  descendants. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

It  was  fully  twenty  years  after  the  publication  of  the 
last  of  his  controversial  works  already  discussed,  before 
Roger  Williams  again,  and  then  for  the  last  time,  entered 
the  arena  of  controversy.  It  is  this  episode  in  his  life 
which  is  the  least  creditable  to  him,  and  upon  which 
those  who  in  other  respects  are  admirers  of  his  character 
and  principles,  are  the  least  anxious  to  dwell.  This  was 
his  famous  controversy  with  George  Fox,  the  exponent 
of  the  doctrines  of  the  Quakers.  In  this  he  not  only  dis- 
played an  acrimonious  spirit,  in  the  use  of  harsh  and 
abusive  terms  and  epithets,  but  showed  forth  such  a 
testimony  of  uncharitableness,  savoring  of  intolerance, 
as  to  belie  much  which  he  had  argued  in  former  years, 
to  the  end  that  none  should  be  disturbed  for  cause  of  con- 
science. Many  of  the  people  called  Quakers,  driven 
from  Massachusetts  and  elsewhere,  some  from  town  to 
town  at  the  cart's  tail,  had  taken  refuge  at  Aquidneck 
and  had  here  formed  an  important  community.  To  this 
day  some  of  the  descendants  of  these  peculiar  people  are 
found  there.  Many  of  the  prominent  men  of  the  colony 
were  attracted  to  this  body,  as  much,  perhaps,  by  the 
simple  sweetness  of  their  lives,  as  by  a  growing  belief  in 
their  peculiar  tenets.  The  attention  of  Roger  Williams, 
as  a  religious  controversialist,  had  been  attracted  toward 
them.  He  was  once  visited  by  two  women  of  the  sect, 
who  endeavored  in  vain  to  interest  him  in  their  doctrines. 
He  visited,  upon  one  occasion,  one  of  their  General  as- 
semblies at  Newport,  and  there  arose  and  "began  to  pre- 
sent to  them  some  considerations  about  the  true  Christ 


232  Roger  Williams 

and  the  false,  the  true  Spirit  and  the  false."  But  since 
the  meeting  was  not  called  for  the  purpose  of  controversy, 
but  rather  for  worship,  he  had  scarcely  begun  when  one 
of  the  brethren  arose  and  began  a  prayer.  This  was 
followed  by  singing  and  this  quickly  in  turn  by  another 
prayer,  and  the  dissolution  of  the  assembly — a  method 
not  wholly  unknown  at  the  present  day,  when  a  meet- 
ing for  religious  worship  is  interrupted  by  a  "crank," 
who  desires  to  present  some  peculiar  notion,  at  variance 
with  the  spirit  of  the  gathering. 

In  the  year  1671,  the  Quakers  of  Aquidneck  were 
visited  by  their  famous  leader  George  Fox  and  an  as- 
sembly of  several  days'  duration  was  held.  This  was 
no  doubt,  similar  in  purport  and  conduct  to  the  "Yearly 
Meeting  of  Friends,"  now  annually  held  at  Newport. 
This  occasion  was,  of  course,  uncommon,  for  it  was  the 
first,  and  possibly  the  only  visit  of  Fox  to  New  England. 
As  he  said,  "it  was  upon  him  from  the  Lord  to  go  beyond 
the  sea,  to  visit  the  plantations  in  America."  With  a 
party  of  followers  he  sailed  from  Gravesend,  in  the  sum- 
mer of  that  year,  and  proceeded  to  the  Barbadoes,  where 
was  a  colony  of  people  of  his  faith.  Thence  he  went  to 
Maryland,  and  so  along  the  coast  northward,  until  Narra- 
gansett  Bay  and  Aquidneck  were  reached.  Here  the 
assembly  was  held,  continuing  six  days,  large  numbers  of 
men  and  women  of  the  faith  being  present.  This  seems 
to  have  been  to  them  a  meeting  of  great  spiritual  up- 
lifting. Leaving  Newport  at  the  conclusion  of  the  meet- 
ing— which  was  followed  by  two  days  of  social  inter- 
course and  leave-taking — Fox  went  to  Providence,  where 
he  held  a  meeting  "in  a  great  barn,"  which  was  thronged 
with  interested  people.  From  here  he  went  to  Narragan- 
sett,  where  a  meeting  was  held  for  the  propagation  of  the 
faith,  none  such  having  ever  been  held  at  that  place  be- 


A  Political  Pioneer  233 

fore.  Much  interest  was  created  and  some  converts  to 
the  doctrines  of  Fox  were  made.  From  this  place  Fox 
went  to  Shelter  Island  for  a  time,  and  thence  returned  to 
Aquidneck — or  Rhode  Island,  as  it  was  now  called — 
where  he  remained  for  several  weeks. 

Roger  Williams  was  always  interested  in  religious  ideas 
or  beliefs  promulgated;  and  long  before  the  visit  of  Fox 
to  Rhode  Island  he  had  seen  and  carefully  read  the 
Quaker  leader's  book:  The  Great  Mystery  of  tlie  Great 
Whore  unfolded;  and  Anti-Christ's  Kingdom  revealed 
unto  Destruction.  (London,  1659.)  Impressed  by  the 
attention  and  excitement  caused  by  Fox's  visit,  he  read  it 
a  second  time,  and  was  irresistibly  seized  with  his  old 
controversial  spirit.  He  was  now  upwards  of  seventy 
years  of  age,  and  had  for  a  long  time  been  but  little  con- 
cerned with  public  affairs.  But  the  fire  within  him  was 
not  quenched.  He  determined  to  challenge  Fox  to  a 
doctrinal  controversy,  and  to  that  end  prepared  a  series 
of  propositions,  fourteen  in  number,  which  he  offered 
for  the  consideration  of  his  opponent.  These  he  for- 
warded to  Fox,  addressed  to  him  at  Newport,  and  en- 
closed in  a  formal  challenge.  This  was  to  Fox  or  all 
comers.  It  was  stipulated  by  Williams  in  his  challenge 
that  seven  of  these  propositions  were  to  be  debated  at 
Newport  and  seven  at  Providence.  The  challenged 
party  was  to  fix  the  time  for  the  debate  to  begin,  but  was 
to  give  his  opponent  at  least  six  days  notice  of  the  time 
fixed.  It  was  also  stipulated  that  "without  interruption, 
or  many  speaking  at  once,"  the  conference  should  con- 
tinue from  nine  in  the  morning  until  about  four  in  the 
afternoon;  that  if  either  of  the  seven  propositions  should 
not  be  finished  in  one  day  the  conference  should  be  con- 
tinued upon  that  proposition,  the  next  day;  that  either 
disputant   should   have   "free,   uninterrupted   liberty   to 


234  Roger  Williams 

speak,  in  answers  and  replies  as  much  and  as  long  as" 
he  should  desire.     The  fourteen  propositions  were  these: 

1.  That  the  people  called  Quakers  are  not  true  Quakers 
according  to  the  holy  Scriptures. 

2.  That  the  Christ  they  profess  is  not  the  true  Lord  Jesus 
Christ. 

3.  That  the  spirit  by  which  they  are  acted  is  not  the  Spirit  of 
God. 

4.  That  they  do  not  own  the  holy  scriptures. 

5.  Their  principles  and  possessions  are  full  of  contradictions 
and  hypocrisies. 

6.  That  their  religion  is  not  only  a  heresy  in  the  matters  of 
worship,  but  also  in  the  doctrines  of  repentance,  faith,  etc. 

7.  Their  religion  is  but  a  confused  mixture  of  popery,  Armin- 
ianism,  Socineanism,  Judaism,  etc. 

8.  The  people  called  Quakers  (in  effect)  hold  no  God,  no 
Christ,  no  spirit,  no  angel,  no  devil,  no  resurrection,  no  judg- 
ment, no  heaven,  no  hell,  but  what  is  in  man. 

9.  All  that  their  religion  requires  (external  and  internal)  to 
make  converts  and  proselytes  amounts  to  no  more  than  what  a 
reprobate  may  easily  attain  unto,  and  perform. 

10.  That  the  popes  of  Rome  do  not  swell  with,  and  excercise 
a  greater  pride  than  the  Quakers'  spirit  hath  exprest  and  doth 
aspire  unto,  although  many  truly  humble  souls  may  be  capti- 
vated amongst  them,  as  may  be  in  other  religions. 

11.  The  Quaker's  religion  is  more  obstructive  and  destructive 
to  the  conversion  and  salvation  of  the  souls  of  people,  than  most 
of  the  religions  this  day  extant  in  the  world. 

12.  The  sufferings  of  the  Quakers  are  no  true  evidence  of  the 
truth  of  their  religion. 

13.  That  their  many  books  and  writings  are  extremely  poor, 
lame,  naked,  and  swelled  up  only  with  high  titles,  and  words  of 
boasting  and  vapor. 

14.  That  the  spirit  of  their  religion  tends  mainly, 

1.  To  reduce  persons  from  civility  to  barbarism. 


A  Political  Pioneer  235 

fc.  To  an  arbitrary  government  and  the  dictates  and 
decrees  of  that  sudden  spirit  that  acts  them, 

3.  To  a  sudden  cutting  off  of  people,  yea,  of  kings  and 
princes  opposing  them. 

4.  To  as  fiery  persecutions  for  matters  of  religion  and  con- 
science, as  hath  been  or  can  be  practised  by  any  hunters  or 
persecutors  in  the  world. 

This  challenge  and  series  of  propositions  to  be  debated 
Mr.  Williams  enclosed  under  cover  to  Deputy  Governor 
John  Cranston  at  Newport,  as  a  man  of  prominence  in 
the  community.  He  did  not,  however,  keep  secret  the 
fact  that  he  had  sent  such  a  challenge  to  Fox,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  published  both  the  fact  and  the  challenge 
abroad  in  the  town,  by  sending  a  copy  to  a  neighbor  who 
was  inclined  to  Quaker  opinions.  This  neighbor  read 
the  propositions  at  a  meeting  of  the  people  of  the  faith 
at  Providence.  In  the  assembly  was  one  John  Crossman, 
a  Quaker,  who  was  master  of  the  packet  which  ran  be- 
tween Providence  and  Newport.  Crossman  was  es- 
pecially incensed  at  this  attack  of  Williams  upon  his 
faith,  and  meeting  him  in  the  street  assailed  him  with 
violent  language,  applying  to  him  the  epithet  of  "blind 
sot,"  and  demanding  to  know  how  he  dared  to  send  his 
fourteen  lies  to  such  a  man  as  George  Fox. 

The  challenge  and  propositions  did  not  come  to  the  eye 
of  Fox,  previous  to  the  debate  which  followed.  He  was 
upon  the  eve  of  his  departure  from  Newport,  and  it  is 
probable  that  Crossman,  being  evidently  a  man  of  slight 
education  and  little  breeding,  suppressed  the  letter  sent 
to  Deputy  Governor  Cranston,  by  his  vessel,  under  the 
mistaken  belief  that  thus  he  would  do  a  service  to  Mr. 
Fox.  At  all  events,  the  letter,  which  bore  date  of  July 
13,  did  not  reach  the  hand  of  Governor  Cranston  until 


236  Roger  Williams 

ten  days  later,  and  not  until  after  Fox  had  left  Newport. 
This  aroused  the  suspicions  of  Williams  that  Fox,  being 
made  well  aware  of  the  probable  contents  of  the  Cranston 
letter,  had  arranged  that  it  should  not  be  delivered,  until 
after  his  departure  should  make  its  acceptance  by  him 
impossible.  With  the  greatest  force  Williams  made  the 
charge,  afterward,  that  Fox,  not  daring  to  meet  him  in 
open  debate  had  "slyly  departed,"  and  left  the  burden 
of  the  proposed  discussion  to  be  borne  by  his  friends  and 
supporters. 

Notwithstanding  the  sharp  and,  in  a  measure,  insulting 
phraseology  of  the  fourteen  propositions,  the  Quakers  of 
Newport  resolved  to  meet  Williams  upon  the  ground 
which  he  had  staked  out.  A  deputation  of  them  proceeded 
to  Providence  and  waited  upon  Williams.  "Their  saluta- 
tions were,"  he  says,  "  (like  the  meetings  of  their  dumb 
spirit)  in  silence;"  but  he  bade  them  welcome.  Through 
their  spokesman,  John  Stubs,  the  challenge  of  Williams 
was  accepted,  although,  as  they  informed  him,  the  paper 
had  not  been  delivered  until  after  the  departure  of  Fox, 
which  fact  would  operate  to  prevent  his  presence  to  aid 
them  in  the  discussion.  But  as  the  challenge  was  thrown 
down  "to  all  comers,"  they  would  take  it  up  as  best  they 
might.  After  arranging  some  of  the  details  of  the  approach- 
ing contest,  Mr.  Williams  produced  a  decanter  and 
glasses,  and  offered  refreshment  to  his  guests,  some  of 
whom  accepted  his  proffered  hospitality. 

Upon  the  day  previous  to  that  fixed  for  the  opening  of 
the  debate,  Mr.  Williams  left  Providence  in  a  rowboat, 
and  performed  the  remarkable  feat  of  rowing  the  entire 
distance  to  Newport,  fully  thirty  miles,  that  he  might  be 
present  at  the  time  appointed.  "God  graciously  assisted 
me  in  rowing  all  day  with  my  old  bones,"  he  recorded, 


A  Political  Pioneer  237 

"so  that  I  got  to  Newport  toward  the  midnight  before 
the  morning  appointed."1 

Mr.  Williams,  on  entering  the  meeting-house  of  the 
Quakers,  at  the  time  fixed  for  the  beginning  of  the  wordy 
contest,  found  three  men  opposed  to  him — John  Stubs, 
John  Burnet  and  William  Edmundson.  They  were 
seated  together  upon  the  "high  seats."  Williams  thus 
characterizes  his  opponents. 

John  Stubs  was  learned  in  the  Hebrew  and  the  Greek:  as  for 
John  Burnet  I  found  him  to  be  of  a  moderate  spirit  and  a  very 
able  speaker.  The  third,  W.  Edmundson,  was  newly  come 
(as  was  said)  from  Virginia  and  he  proved  the  chief  speaker,  a 
man  not  so  able  nor  so  moderate  as  the  other  two;  for  the  two 
first  would  speak  argument  and  discuss  and  produce  scripture, 
but  William  Edmundson  was  very  ignorant  in  the  scripture  or 
any  other  learning.  He  had  been  a  soldier  in  the  late  wars,  a 
stout  portly  man  of  a  great  voice  and  fit  to  make  a  Bragadocia 
(as  he  did)  and  a  constant  exercise  merely  of  my  patience.  He 
would  often  vapor  and  preach  long  and  when  I  had  patiently 
waited  till  the  gust  was  over  and  began  to  speak,  then  would  he 
stop  my  mouth  with  a  very  unhandsome  clout  of  a  grievous 
interruption,  so  that  sometimes  I  was  forc't  to  play  the  moderator, 
and  to  protest  that  such  practices  were  against  the  sober  rules  of 
civility  and  humanity.3 

On  the  first  day  of  the  debate  Williams  took  his  place 
at  the  rear  of  the  house  and  from  this  position  discussed 
his  propositions.  On  the  second  day,  being  somewhat 
indisposed — the  exertion  of  his  long  row  no  doubt  pro- 
ducing its  effect — he  seated  himself  near  the  middle  of 
the  house,  and  so  remained  until  the  close  of  the  discussion 
of  the  first  seven  of  the  propositions.  The  discussion 
occupied  three  days  at  Newport,  and  was  then  adjourned 


•Pub.  Nar.  Club,  v,  37. 
'Pub.  Nar.  Club,  v,  98. 


5238  Roger  Williams 

to  Providence,  where  it  was  continued  for  one  day  longer. 
Williams  with  the  intent,  no  doubt,  of  publishing  the 
debate,  endeavored  to  procure  the  services  of  a  short-hand 
writer  but  in  this  effort  he  was  unsuccessful.  He  was 
obliged,  therefore,  to  be  his  own  reporter;  and  this  he 
was,  in  a  thick  volume,  published  in  1676.  Mr.  Edmund 
Burrows,  being  one  of  the  promoters,  with  Fox,  of  the 
doctrines  of  the  Quakers,  Williams,  in  his  book  em- 
ploys the  two  names  in  a  title,  which  is  as  bad  in  its  pun, 
as  it  is  questionable  in  its  taste,  and  doubtful  in  its  Christian 
Spirit.     The  full  title  of  the  book  is  this: 

George  Fox  Digg'd  out  of  his  Burrowes;  or  an  Offer  of  Dis- 
putation on  fourteen  Proposalls  made  this  last  Summer  1672 
(so  called)  unto  G.  Fox  then  present  on  Rode  Island  in  New 
England,  by  R.  W.  As  also  how  (G.  Fox  slily  departing)  the 
Disputation  went  on  being  managed  three  dayes  at  Newport 
on  Rode  Island,  and  one  day  at  Providence,  between  John 
Stubs,  John  Burnet  and  William  Edmundson  on  the  one  part 
and  R.  W.  on  the  other.  In  which  many  quotations  out  of  G. 
Fox  and  Ed.  Burrowes  Book  in  Folio  are  alleadged,  with  an 
Appendix  of  some  scores  of  G.  F.  his  simple  lame  Answers  to 
his  Opposites  in  that  Book,  quoted  and  replyed  to  by  R.  W.  of 
Providence  in  N.  E.  Boston:  Printed  by  John  Foster,  1676. 

In  his  introduction  to  this  work,  Mr.  Williams  relates 
the  circumstances,  already  shown  forth,  of  his  sending 
the  challenge  to  George  Fox,  to  debate  with  him  his 
fourteen  propositions.  He  could  not  be  persuaded  that 
Fox  did  not  leave  Newport  for  the  purpose  of  avoiding 
the  contest,  and  thus  in  his  title  page  he  makes  the  accu- 
sation that  he  "slyly  departed."     He  thus  asserts: 

In  the  Junto  of  the  Foxonians  at  Newport  it  was  concluded 
for  Infallible  Reasons  that  His  Holiness  G.  Fox  should  with- 
draw; seeing  that  there  was  such  a  knot  of  the  Apostles  of  Jesus 
Christ  now  at  Newport  together,  (especially  John  Stubs,  a  man 


A  Political  Pioneer  289 

knowing  the  Greek  and  Hebrew.)  Therefore,  that  it  might 
appear  that  such  a  Nehemiah  as  he  would  not  fly,  it  was  agreed 
that  my  Letters  should  not  be  delivered  to  the  Deputy  Governour 
until  G.  Fox  was  gone;  so  that  it  might  be  truly  said,  that  he 
never  saw  the  Paper  which  I  sent  unto  him,  I  had  a  touch  of 
this  Leger  de  main  trick  in  our  Dispute  at  Newport,  and  the 
Deputy  Governour  did  publickly  testify  that  my  letters  to  him 
were  dated  the  13  of  July,  (which  he  said  he  wondered  at)  but 
were  not  broouht  to  him  until  G.  Fox  was  some  hours  departed. 
John  Burniat  protest  that  he  knew  nothing  of  the  detaining  of 
the  Letters,  only  he  knew  that  G.  Fox  never  saw  my  Paper. 
G.  F.  Supposed  I  would  be  forced  to  be  as  plain  in  my  Proofs 
as  I  was  in  my  Positions.  He  knew  that  I  was  furnishe  with 
Artillery  out  of  his  own  Writings.  He  saw  what  Consequences 
would  roll  down  the  mountains  upon  him  from,  his  proud  and 
insolent,  yet  poor,  bald  writings;  and  how  far  some  of  his  present 
practices  were  fallen  out  with  his  writings,  and  therefore  this 
old  Fox  thought  it  best  to  run  for  it,  and  leave  the  work  to  his 
journeymen  and  chaplains  to  perform  in  his  absence  for  him. 

George  Fox  in  reply  to  the  attack  of  Williams  published 
a  book  under  the  title:  A  New  England  Fire  Brand 
Quenched.  In  this  Fox  shows  conclusively  that  his 
writings,  if  "poor,"  were  certainly  not  "bald,"  for  in 
remarkably  vigorous  language,  he  answers  these  accusa- 
tions of  his  opponent.     He  says: 

These  are  four  great  Lies:  for  G.  F.  knew  not  what  was  in 
thy  Papers,  Roger,  neither  had  G.  F.  seen  the  copies  of  these 
Proposals;  neither  did  G.  F.  hinder  their  being  delivered  to  the 
Governour.  Nor  did  G.  F.  ever  receive  any  letters  from  R.  W., 
or  go  away  for  fear  of  him  or  them ;  nor  was  it  a  likely  thing,  that  he 
should,  when  he  knew  nothing  of  them,  for  as  I  said  before,  when  I 
was  at  Providence,  where  this  Roger  lives,  he  came  not  at  me.  And 
if  he  had  anything  to  have  spoken  to  me,  he  might  easily  have 
done  it,  or  have  written  to  me,  and  have  sent  the  same  copies  to 
me,  he  sent  to  Captain  Cranston;  and  not  have  made  a  clamour 


240  Roger  Williams 

against  me,  belying  of  me  to  the  world  behind  my  back,  when 
I  was  gone.  But  this  is  like  the  Fruits  of  his  Spirit,  but  not  the 
Spirit  of  Christ  and  his  diciples,  "Oh!  how  darest  thou,  Roger 
Williams,  publish  such  false  lyes  to  the  world,  when  thou  knowest 
Conscience  that  G.  F.  never  had  any  writing,  or  letter,  or  pro- 
posal from  thee;  neither  did  he  ever  exchange  word  with  thee. 
The  Lord  God  of  Heaven  knowes  it,  and  the  Deputy  Governour 
knowes  that  I  received  none  of  thy  writings  or  papers  of  pro- 
posals by  him.  Behold  all  sober  people  the  foundation  of  this 
man's  attempt,  the  beginning  of  his  work;  and  since  the  founda- 
tion of  thy  book  is  a  monstrous  lye,  the  building  upon  such  a 
foundation  of  lyes  is  not  like  to  be  otherwise;  which  lyes  thou 
hast  made  thy  refuge,  as  throughout  thy  book  may  be  evidently 
seen.  For  except  a  man  had  sold  himself  to  work  falsehood, 
and  make  lyes,  he  could  not  have  done  more  wickedly  and  have 
uttered  falser  charges  than  thou  hast  done.  But  the  Lord  God 
which  knows  them  and  sees  thy  evil  design  in  them  will  sweep 
them  away  with  the  Besom  of  Destruction  and  clear  his  people 
from  thy  manifest  false  tongue.1 

Some  of  the  propositions  offered  by  Williams  were, 
as  is  seen,  doctrinal  in  their  nature  and  capable  of  earnest 
debate  and  scriptural  argument.  Others,  it  is  readily 
perceived,  were  simply  charges  alleged  in  apparently  no 
friendly  spirit,  and  incapable  of  discussion.  This  point 
was,  indeed,  urged  by  Burnet  in  the  debate.  Moreover, 
since  apparently  no  judges  were  appointed,  no  decision 
could  be  rendered  as  to  which  party  had  triumphed;  and 
the  assembly  finally  adjourned,  each  side  to  the  dispute 
being  evidently  well  satisfied  with  the  manner  in  which 
it  had  acquitted  itself.  Williams's  book,  containing  his 
report  of  the  discussion,  appeared  four  years  after  its 
conclusion.  Fox  replied  two  years  later  with  his  A  New 
England  Fire  Brand  Quenched,  and  Burnet  also  made  a 


»N.  E.  Firebrand  Quenched,  pt,  i,  2. 


A  Political  Pioneer  £41 

rejoinder  to  Williams  in  Truth  Exalted.  The  discussion, 
so  far  as  concerned  Roger  Williams,  here  ceased.  It 
had  been  conducted  on  both  sides  in  a  manner  little 
calculated  to  advance  the  cause  of  religion.  In  these 
writings  all  parties  to  the  controversy  displayed  a  singular 
lack  of  courtesy,  disregarding  what  are  considered  today 
the  ordinary  amenities  of  intercourse.  The  attack  of 
Williams  upon  Quakerism,  bitter  and  acrimonious, 
drew  forth  remonstrances  from  all  sides.  Governor 
Coddington,  who  was  inclined  to  favor  the  views  of  Fox, 
denounced  Williams  in  strong  terms,  in  a  letter  to  Fox. 
Others  of  those  whom  Williams  would  desire  to  regard 
his  friends  arrayed  themselves  as  his  opponents. 

George  Fox  Digged  out  of  his  Burr  owes,  like  the  Bloudy 
Tenent  yet  more  Bloudy  has  three  introductions.  The 
first  of  these  is  addressed  to  King  Charles  II,  which  gave 
the  Quakers  an  opportunity  of  criticising  the  author,  as 
attempting  to  "curry  favor"  with  royalty.  The  second 
is  addressed  To  the  People  Called  Quakers.  This  is 
couched  in  language  which  could  not  fail  to  give  offence 
to  those  addressed.  The  third  was  addressed  To  those 
many  Learned  and  Pious  Men  whom  G.  Fox  hath  so 
sillily  and  Scornfully  answered  in  his  book  in  Folio,  Es' 
pecially,  to  those  whose  names  I  have  been  bold  to  mention 
in  the  Narrative  and  Appendix,  Mr.  Richard  Baxter  and 
Mr.  John  Owen.  "Through  your  sides,"  he  begins, 
"the  Devil  by  the  Clawes  of  this  wily  Fox,  hath  tore  at 
the  heart  of  the  Son  of  God." 

Judging  from  the  report  of  Williams,  the  debate  was 
conducted  with  indecorum  upon  both  sides,  insomuch 
that  on  the  morning  of  the  third  day  of  the  discussion, 
Robert  Williams,  the  brother  of  Roger,  "schoolmaster 
at  Newport"  was  moved  to  address  a  letter  of  remon- 
strance to  the  disputants.     This  was  delivered,  sealed, 


242  Roger  Williams 

to  Roger  Williams  just  as  he  was  about  to  begin  the  debate 
upon  the  third  day,  but  he,  thinking  no  doubt  that  it 
contained  some  purely  personal  matters,  put  it  unopened 
into  his  pocket.  The  intent  of  Robert  Williams  that  it 
should  be  read  in  the  public  assembly  was  not  realized; 
but  it  appears  in  full  in  Williams's  book.  In  this  letter 
Robert  Williams  remonstrates  first  with  his  brother  for 
his    severe  attacks  upon  the  Quakers.     He  says: 

You  have  not  dealt  as  a  faithful  servant  of  the  Lord 
Jesus,  with  your  fellow  servants,  .  .  .  you  have  assumed 
and  presumed  too  much,  being  so  large  and  high  pro- 
posals, which  do  appear  unto  me  not  as  charges,  but 
in  this  first  appearance  as  proposals,  until  they  are 
maintained  as  charges  by  sufficient  proof,  wherein  they 
may  be  molified.  .  .  .  Yet  know  there  may  be  a  great 
zeal  without  true  knowledge,  therefore  let  true  zeal  ap- 
pear that  is  not  in  persecution,  but  for  the  glory  of 
God  and  truth's  sake,  as  it  is  in  Jesus. 

The  defending  disputant  he  reproved  for  "assuming 
and  presuming  beyond  the  bounds  of  moderation  of 
Christianity,"  and  for  "indecorous  behaviours  both  in 
words  and  gestures  unto  your  [their]  elder  fellow  ser- 
vants and  aged  father,  complaining  as  not  performing 
your  [their]  duty  as  young  men  unto  rule  of  honour- 
ing grey  hairs."  Especially  did  the  writer  remonstrate 
against  the  reiterated  addressing  of  his  brother  as 
"thou  old  man,  thou  old  man,"  as  showing  disrespect  to 
the  aged. 

These  remonstrances  of  Robert  Williams,  which  would 
more  properly,  perhaps,  proceed  from  him  than  from 
any  other  auditor,  are  in  themselves  a  sufficient  criticism 
of  the  debate  and  the  manner  in  which  it  was  conducted 
upon  both  sides.     It  is  certain  that  this  controversy  was 


A  Political  Pioneer  243 

conducted  by  Roger  Williams  in  a  manner  far  less  gener- 
ous and  courteous  than  that  of  years  before  with  John 
Cotton.  It  is  evident  that,  with  the  passage  of  years 
Williams,  when  in  the  arena  of  discussion,  had  lost  none 
of  his  youthful  vigor,  but  had  the  rather  added  to  it  a 
querulousness,  to  be  wondered  at  when  we  remember  the 
sweetness  of  his  disposition,  so  often  remarked  by  his 
personal  friends  and  acquaintances.  When  we  con- 
trast with  the  harshness  and  acrimony  of  this  attack  upon 
Fox,  the  christian-like  spirit  of  meekness  with  which  he 
met  the  abrupt  and  not  altogether  gentle  charges  of  John 
Cotton,  the  younger,  and  the  gentleness  with  which  he 
explained  away  the  misapprehensions  of  that  gentleman, 
one  can  but  wonder  by  what  spirit  he  had  become  pos- 
sessed; and  when  he  rebukes  the  use  of  Tliee  and  Thou 
by  Quakers,  and  says:  "I  have  therefore  publickly 
declared  myself  that  a  due  and  moderate  restraint  and 
punishing  of  these  incivilities  (though  pretending  con- 
science) is  as  far  from  persecution,  properly  so  called) 
as  that  it  is  a  duty  and  command  of  God  unto  all  man- 
kinde,  first  in  families  and  thence  into  all  mankinde 
societies,"  one  is  lost  in  wonder  if,  in  his  overheated  zeal, 
he  did  not  himself  forget  the  force  of  the  great  doctrine 
of  which  he  was  the  first  American  exponent. 

And  so  we  must  take  our  leave  of  this  man,  whom 
history  records  and  posterity  acknowledges  as  one  of  the 
great  men  of  an  age  prolific  in  great  men.  And  yet  his 
was  a  character  unlike  the  pebble  which,  rolled  and 
tossed  by  waves,  becomes  perfectly  rounded  and  polished 
by  continued  contact  with  others  upon  the  sands.  His 
erudition  was  great,  and  yet  it  was  employed  in  but  a 
single  line  of  thought.  He  was  an  accomplished  scholar 
in  the  Greek,  yet  one  searches  in  vain,  in  his  writings, 
for  an  allusion  to,  or  a  quotation  from,  Homer  or  Plato. 


244  Roger  Williams 

A  personal  friend  of  one  of  the  greatest  poets  who  ever 
sung,  he  gives  no  evidence  that  he  had  so  much  as  read 
Paradise  Lost,  or  the  Sonnet  to  the  Nightingale.  Will- 
iams was  born  at  the  time  when  Shakespeare  was  at  the 
height  of  his  literary  power,  and  King  Henry  VIII 
must  have  appeared  not  far  from  the  time  when  Williams 
was  at  Cambridge;  but  yet,  though  many  and  wise  are 
the  sayings  of  Avon's  bard,  the  writings  of  Williams 
give  evidence  of  scriptural  study  alone.  He  had  paid 
some  attention  to  legal  studies  and  yet  it  does  not  seem  to 
have  occurred  to  his  mind  that  he  could  not  consistently 
acquire,  hold,  mortgage  and  convey  real  property,  the 
title  of  the  grantor  of  which  he  believed  to  be  clouded. 
By  his  disputatious  nature  he  tried  often  the  patience  of 
his  dearest  friends,  while  yet  his  spirit  was  so  sweet  and 
his  temper  so  even,  that  he  never  forfeited  their  personal 
affection.  His  nature  was  not  that  of  the  self-seeker;  he 
hazarded  his  life  for  others;  and  yet  throughout  his  writ- 
ings, he  does  not  fail  to  call  attention,  upon  every  suitable 
occasion,  to  his  own  sufferings  and  sacrifices,  lest  due 
credit  and  sympathy  should  be  withheld  from  him.  He 
is  at  times  denunciatory  of  others  and — especially  as 
regards  George  Fox — intolerant  of  opinions  at  variance 
with  his  own,  and  still  he  is  quick  to  deprecate  similar 
conduct  in  others.  He  was  bitterly  opposed  to  the  in- 
stitutions and  ordinances  of  the  Church  of  England,  so 
that  he  denounced  in  unmeasured  terms,  those  dissenters 
who  even  ventured  to  attend  upon  its  services  of  worship; 
and  yet,  so  full  a  believer  was  he  in  the  theory  of  apos- 
tolic authority,  that  he,  after  his  very  brief  experience 
as  a  Baptist,  would  accept  no  ordinances  as  valid,  in  the 
belief  that  authority  to  transmit  their  authority  did  not 
lie  in  Christ's  Apostles. 

And  so,  one  cannot  write  him  down  as  a  man  in  all 


A  Political  Pioneer  245 

things  well  rounded,  for  he  was  .human,  and  thus  well 
likened  to  his  fellow  men.  He  was  in  his  earlier  years, 
as  saith  Governor  Bradford,  "very  unsettled  in  judg- 
ment." He  was  as  a  man  groping  in  darkness,  and  yet 
sure  that  somewhere  beyond  him  lay  the  light,  such  as  no 
man  yet  had  seen.  In  the  Bay  Colony  he  was  trammelled 
and  confined,  as  one  ever  seeking  for  some  great  truth, 
which  as  often  ever  eluded  him.  In  the  Plantations  at 
Providence,  with  no  one  about  him  with  whom  he  es- 
sentially differed,  and  no  conditions  present  which  could 
provoke  controversy,  his  mind  was  set  free  from  its  con- 
fininga  and  liberated  into  the  light  of  a  great  human 
truth.  He  was  not  the  discoverer  of  the  great  idea  of 
the  right  of  man  to  seek  and  to  scatter  religious  thought 
even  as  he  listeth.  But  it  was  his  honor  and  his  glory,  to 
find  among  the  tares  that  one  precious  plant,  whose  seed 
was  sown  by  William  Prince  of  Orange,  and  to  trans- 
plant it  to  a  virgin  soil,  where  it  might  grow  and  flourish. 
Under  his  fostering,  the  tender  plant  of  religious  liberty 
pushed  its  tiny  rootlets  far  down  into  the  barren  soil  of 
New  England,  until  they  reached  for  their  nourishment 
the  living  stream  of  truth,  "a  pure  river  of  water  of  life, 
clear  as  crystal,  proceeding  out  of  the  throne  of  God." 
The  true  date  of  the  death  of  Roger  Williams  is  un- 
known; but  it  is  certain  that  it  must  have  occurred  during 
the  year  1683,  and  probably  early  in  that  year.  Upon 
the  western  slope  of  the  great  hill,  the  foot  of  which  was 
laved  by  the  spring,  near  which  he  first  built  him  his 
habitation,  they  made  his  grave,  and  there  they  buried 
him.  For  one  hundred  and  seventy  seven  years  the  rays 
of  the  westerning  sun  shone  upon  it,  and  far  below,  and 
about  was  built  a  great  and  beautiful  city.  And  at 
the  grave's  foot  sprang  up  and  grew  a  tree  which,  in  the 
spring-time   budded    and    blossomed    forth,    and    in    the 


246  Roger  Williams 

autumn  gave  its  fruitage  to  man.  At  length  onecame 
who  explored  the  resting  place  of  this  man,  whose  name 
the  world  had  not  forgotten;  and  in  the  grave  they  found 
the  tree's  root,  shaped  like  to  a  human  form.  And  then 
they  knew  that,  even  in  death  as  in  life,  his  spirit  had 
shed  forth  its  fragrance  upon  the  world,  and  the  fruits 
of  his  life  had  given  life  and  peace  to  many.  J 


INDEX 


INDEX 


PAGE 


A 


Aquidneck 

154,  187,  194,  231,  232,  233 

Angell,  Thomas  137,  135 

Arbella,  ship  69,  80 

Arnold,    Benedict  137 
Arnold,    William 

138,  142,  144,  145 

Ausamaquin  135 


B 


Banishment,  discussion 

171,  172,  173,  174,  175,  176 
Baptism  164,  165,  166,  167 

Harrington,  Lady      15,  16,  18, 

22,  24,  28,  29,  32,  185,  204 
Barrington,  Sir  Francis  22 
Blackstone  river  128 

Blackstone,  William      67,  128 
Bradford,  William 

34,  35,  36,  38; 

— letter  from  Winthrop  to 

61,  71,  72,  76,  115,  161,  217 
Bradstreet,  Humfry  55 

Brenton,  Mr.  55 

Brewster,    William  127 

Bridget    William  185 

Bristol,    ship    Lyon    sails 

from  3 

Brown,  Chace  226 

Browne,  John  53,  69,  139 

Browne,  Samuel  53,  69 

Buckingham,  Lord  64 

Burnet,  John        237,  238,  240 
Burroughs,   Jeremiah  188 


PAGE 


Cabot,  Sebastian  88 

Canonicus      135,  137,  138,  149, 

154,     158,      159,     213, 
Carpenter,  William  138 

Castle   Island,   fortifications 

on  94 

Charles  I  23, 

order  of  61,  67,  87,  89,  93,  94 
Charles  II.  23 

Charter,  demand  for  sur- 
render of  92 
Charter  House  13 
Clarke,  John  165,  198,  206 
Coddington,  William  195,  206 
Coke,  Sir  Edward 

12,  14,  25t  202 
Cole,  Robert  138 

Collicott,   Richard  55 

Collicut,  Richard  215 

Colton,  John,  the  younger 

28,  29,  42,  218,  222 
Compact,  Providence  134 

Conant,    Roger  52 

Conclusions  for  the  plan- 
tation in  New  England, 
Winthrop's  46 

Cotton,  John  22,  28,  48,  49, 
50,  52,  105,  121,  127,  167, 
168,  169M  170,  177,  179,  183, 
184,  185,  186,  198,  243 
Council  for  New  Eng- 
land 64,  65,  67,  74 
Cradock,  Matthew 

67,  83,  92,  216 
Cranston,  John  235,  236 


250 


Index 


PAGE 

Cromwell,   Frances 

23 

Cromwell,  Oliver 

23,  27 

Cromwell,   Robert 

23 

Crossman,   John, 

235 

Cutshamakin 

159,    160 

D 

Dean,   John   Ward 

13 

Dexter,  Dr.  H.  M. 

186 

Dorchester,  Lord 

67 

Downing,  Emanuel 

59 

Downing,  Mr. 

54 

PAGE 

Gorges,  John  67 

Gorges,  Robert  65,  66 

Gorges,  Sir  Ferdinando       59, 
61,  62,  63,  64,  65,  66,  67,  68, 
69,    73,    74,    78,    83,    85,    92 
Gorton,  Samuel  124 

Graves,  Capt.  86 

Greene,  John  138 

Grenville,    Sir    Richard         89 
Griffin,  ship  93 

Grove,  Mary  70 

Guild,  Reuben  A.  4,  5,  6 


H 


Earthquake  in  New  Eng- 
land 215,  216,  217 
Edmundson,  William  237,  238 
Edwards,  Morgan  6 
Elizabeth,  Queen  63 
Endicott,  John  29,  45,  49 
52,   54,   59,    67,    79,   92,    158 


Flag,    Endicott's    mutila- 
tion of  53,  54,  55 

Fox,  George  231,  232,  233,  235, 
236,     238,     239,     241,     245 

Freemen's  Oath  57 


G 


Gardiner,  Sir  Christopher 
59,  60,  61,  69,  70,  71,  72,  73, 
74,   83,   84,   85,   86,    92,    109 

Gilbert,  Sir  Humphrey 

Goldsmith,    Oliver 

Goodkins,  Captain 

Goodwin,    Thomas 

Goodwyn,  Mr. 


Harris,  Thomas  139 

Harris,  William 

26,  127,  138,  223,  224 
Hawthorne,  Nathaniel  92 

Haynes,  Gov.  John  55 

Heath,    William  55 

Henry  VII  88 

Henry    VIII  89 

Higginson,  Francis        33,  171 
Higginson,  John  30 

Hodges,  Almon  D.  11,  26 

Holliman,  Ezechiell 

138,   163,   164,   165 
Hooke,  Rev.  William  27 

Hooker,  Thomas 

21,  49,  104,  105 
Hubbard,  William  52 

Hutchinson,  Mrs.  Anne 

163,  164 


109 

Initial    Deed 

136,    137 

89 

112 

J 

221 

185 

James  I 

45,  68,  78 

55 

James  II 

63 

Index 


251 


PAGE 

James,  ThoBMI  138 

Jennin,  Sir  Thomas  60 

JTefUf  College  13 

Johnson,  Samuel  112,  113,  111 


K 


Kennebec,  river,  attempt 
at  colonization  on  63 

Key  into  the  Languages 
of  America  179 

King's  patent,  Williams 
attacks  45,  108 


Land,  Archbishop 

Leavitt,   Capt.  59,   96 

Lenox,  Duke  of  64 

Locke,  John  15 

Long  Parliament  178,  188 

Lowdes,  George  Alan  15 

Luddam,  Indian  guide    35,  37 
Ludlow,  George  215 

Lyon,   ship  3,   34,   35,   70 

M 

Manhattoes  161 

Marblehead  Neck  120 

Martha's   Vineyard,  gold- 
searchers  at  64 
Martin,  Sir  William              124 
Mary  and  Jane,  ship      60,  97 
Masham,  Lady  23 
Masham,  Sir   William  15,  189 
Mason,  Capt.  John        59,  60, 
61,     68,     69,     86,     126,     150 
Massachusetts    Bay,    Col- 
ony of  3,  33,  35,  44, 59,  67,  68, 
81,  82,  90,  96,  98,  111,  112, 
120,  122,  124,  129,  149,  150, 
188,  190 


PAGE 

Mather,  Cotton 

53,  106,  107,  122,  123,  166 
Maverick,  Samuel  67 

Mayflower,  ship,  at  Cape 

Cod  65 

Mayhewe,  Mr.  55,  216 

Mayo,  Dr.  113,  114 

Merry  Mount  75,  78 

Miantonomoh        135,  137,  138 

153,  157,  158,  159,  214 
Milton,  John  201,  202,  204 
Ministerial        association, 

Williams  attacks  44 

Mohigans  158,  192 

Morell,    Rev.   William  66 

.Morton,  Nathaniel  115 

Morton,   Thomas  59 

60,  69,  74,  75,  76,  78,  79,  81, 

82,     84,     85,     90,     91. 


N 


Nantasket,      ship      Lyon 

reaches  3 

Narragansett  Bay  126 

Narragansett  tribe      150,  151, 
155,  157,   159,  161,   162,   193 
Nayantaquit  153,  155,  157 

New     England     Historic- 
Genealogical  Society  6 
New  England's  Memorial 

116,  164 
New  Knglish  Canaan  81,  84,  91 
Newport        232,  2&3,    >::; 
Nye,  Philip  185 


Ollyver,  Mr.  55 

Olney,  Thomas  188 

Oldham,  John  55 

67,    78,    148,    157,  213,    214 


252 


Index 


PAGE 

P 

Palmer,  Abraham  55 

Pascataquack  59,  60 

Passonogesset,    settlement 

at  76 

Pawtucket  river  128 

Pembroke  College  13,  14 

Pembroke,  Lord  64 

Pequots 

133,  148,  149,  150,  151,  153, 

154,  155,  156,  157,   158,  160 

Plymouth    Colony,     Win- 

throp's  Journey  to,  35; 

Williams  at  37; 

Leaves  39;  70, 

71,    78,    79,    104,     112,     116 

121,  129,  135,   148,  149,  221 

Plymouth  Company  66,  68 

Popham,   Sir  John  63 

Providence  127, 

129,  132,  134,  145,  146,  148, 

151,  162,  187,  189,  191,   193 

Providence       Plantations, 

chartered  188 


Q 

Quakers  231 

232,  234,  235,  237,  238,  242 


R 


Raleigh,  Sir  Walter  89 
Ratcliffe,  Philip 

59,    60,    69,    83,  85,    92 

Rehoboth  126 


PAGE 

Salem,  Williams  called  to 
30,  31;  Williams  leaves 
Plymouth  for  43;  Cotton 
visits  50 

Saltonstall,  Sir  Richard        60 
Sayles,  Jon.  139 

Scott,  Mrs.  164,  167 

Searle,    Rev.    C.    E.  13 

Seekonk  126,    136 

Seekonk  river  128 

Sempringham,  ride  to 

22,  49,  105,  167 
Sharpe,  Samuel  103 

Simpson,    Sidrach  185 

Skelton,  Samuel  31,  32,  33,  57 
Slate   Rock  129 

Smith,  John  127 

Smith,    Rev.    Ralph  34 

Spencer,  Mr.  55 

Standish,  Capt.  Myles  78 

Stebbens,    Edward  55 

Stoughton,  Israel  107,  108,  158 
Stubs,  John  236,  237,  238 


E 


Thomson,  David  67 

Throckmorton,  John  138,  214 

Tomlyns,  Timothy  55 

Toplady,  Dr.  112,  115 


U 

Underhill,  Capt.  John 

71,  109,  112 


Vane,  Sir  Henry  205,  206,  222 
Sadlier,  Anne  Veils,  contention  concern- 

12,  25,  202,  203,  204,  205         ing,  49; 


Index 


253 


PAGE 

Veils  (Cont.) 

John  Cotton's  attack  upon 
51 
Verin,  Joshua 

I  -'7,  141,  142,  144,  145 


W 

Walford,  Thomas  67 

Wampanoags  135 

Warwick,  Earl  of  lss 

Waters,  Henry  F.  6,  7,  8 

Waterman,  Richard  138 

Wegnashcuck  157 

WVpiteammock  155 

WVssagusset  67 

Wescoot,   Stukley  ];is 

Weston,       Andrew       and 

Thomas  66 

Weston,   Francis  55 

Weston,  Francis  138 

Westminster  Assembly         185 
Weymouth,  Capt.  63 

Whalley,  Edward  23 

Whalley,  Jane  23,  26 

Whalley,  Richard  23 

What  Cheer  129,  130 

Wiekes,  Francis    127,  135,  224 
Wlggio,  Capt.  59 

William  and  Jane,  ship 

59,  60,  97 
William,  ship  59 

Williams,  Alice  7,  8,  11 

Williams,  James      7,  8,  11,  21 
Williams,   Mary,   wife   of 

Roger  9,  26t  229 

Williams,  Mary,  daughter 

of  Roger  9,  39,  229 

Williams,   Robert 

6,  9,   194,  241,  242 
Williams,  Rodericus  13 


PAGE 
Willi  tins,  Roger  3,  4,  5,  6,  7, 
8,  9,  10,  11,  12,  14,  15,  21, 
23,  24,  26,  28,  29,  30, 
31,  39,  S3,  34,  36,  37,  38,  39, 
40;  letter  of  to  Winthrop  41 ; 
44,  45,  47,  52,  56,  57,  58,  96, 
97,    98,    102,    105,    106,    107, 

108,  109,  110,  111,  112,  115, 
116,  117,  118,  119,  120,  122, 
125,  126,  129,  130,  133,  135, 
136,  137,  138,  139,  140,  141, 
143,  144,  146,  147,  150,  152, 
155,  156,  159,  161,  162,  164, 
165,  166,  167,  168,  169,  172, 
174,  177,  178,  179,  186,  187, 
189,  190,  192,  194,  198,  199, 
201,  202,  205,  206,  207,  208, 
212,  213,  214,  215,  222,  223, 
227,  228;  children  of,  229; 
231 ;  Challenges  George 
Fox,  233;  234,  235,  238,  240, 
241,  244;  grave  of  246 

Williams,  Sydrasc  7,  8,  10 

Willyams,      William,      of 

Roseworthy  4,  6 

Wilson,  John 

25,  28,  33,  36,  38,  48 
Win  slow,  Edward  123,  126,  128 
Winthrop,  John,  3,  29,  31,  33, 
34,  36,  38,  40;  letter  of  Wil- 
liams to,  41;  46,  48,  49,  52, 
54,  59,  60t  61,  67,  69,  72,  73, 
80,  85,  86,   91,   92,   98,   102, 

109,  110,  117,  119,  126,  130; 
letter  of,  131 ;  142,  143,  149, 
151,  156,  159,  164,  165,  185, 
187,  205,  206,  208,  212,  213, 
114,  215,  218,  219, 

Winthrop,  Margaret  34 

Wollaston,  Capt.  74,  75 

Wollaston,  Mount 

75,   79,  81.    m 
Wunhowatuckoogs  154 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below, 
or  on  the  date  to  which  renewed.  Renewals  only: 

Tel.  No.  642-3405 
Renewals  may  be  made  4  days  prior  to  date  due. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


KEC'OLO  FEB     8  73 -4  PM  2  8 


•- 


— — 


■-,.,  :■.  _-.:   ' 


LD21A-40m-3,'72 
(Qll78SlO)476-A-32 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


«s« 


'1*    <s 


